Reclaimed materials guide

About the report

BioRegional Consulting have produced this free guide to help construction professionals substitute reclaimed alternatives for new products and materials to reduce the environmental impact and embodied carbon of a project.

Savings of 96% for reclaimed steel or 79% for reclaimed timber are possible with little or no additional expense.

Published May 2008
Pages 80

This report was funded by WRAP.

Download report PDF

Introduction

This guide is aimed at construction professionals including:

• clients and developers;
• architects and designers;
• staff responsible for specification and procurement; and
• main and specialist contractors.

The document covers a range of products and materials commonly used in new build and refurbishment for housing, commercial and public sector projects. Its purpose is to help identify how to substitute new products with reclaimed alternatives.

Increasingly construction clients are setting requirements such as: ‘At least 10% of the total value of materials used in the construction project must be derived from recycled and reused content in the products and materials selected.’

As a result, clients, design teams and contractors need information to make choices on opportunities to incorporate reused (i.e. reclaimed) options.

There are a number of real and perceived barriers to using reclaimed building materials such as supply availability and failure to allocate design responsibility. This guide goes some way to address these issues and provides examples of how barriers have been overcome.

This report was funded by WRAP.
Download report PDF