: Strathclyde Fire & Rescue Training Centre Contractor follows nine-step plan to achieve best practice in Key facts Lend Lease has corporate targets to reduce construction waste, aiming to achieve <5.5m 3 per 100k project spend and for >94% of all waste generated to be diverted from landfill. Lend Lease implemented a nine-step (waste reduction) plan that was rolled out across both the design and construction stages of the SFR Training Centre project. Figure 1 Strathclyde Fire & Rescue Training Centre, front entrance Lend Lease, the international property and infrastructure group, is the principal contractor appointed to Strathclyde Fire & Rescue s (SFR) new Training Centre in South Lanarkshire. By applying a nine-step site waste management plan (nine-step plan) to all projects, Lend Lease is working towards achieving its ambitious corporate waste reduction and recovery targets as a signatory to the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) Halving Waste to Landfill Commitment. These targets were exceeded at the SFR Training Centre, demonstrating the benefits of a strong corporate approach to construction waste management. Project background The SFR Training Centre, in Cambuslang, South Lanarkshire (Figure 1), consists of state-of-the-art bespoke facilities designed to address the specific training needs of SFR while also being available for sharing with external stakeholders. The project includes three main zones (Figure 2): In total, less than 4% of waste generated was sent to landfill. Controlled site logistics avoided an estimated 1,522 vehicle movements between the SFR Training Centre and the waste transfer station (WTS) with an associated carbon dioxide reduction of 563kg over a one-year period. 1
and continuous improvement, are in place. Key aspects of the approach include: Key performance indicators (KPIs), which are set for all Lend Lease projects and are communicated to all staff and subcontractors via tender agreements, inductions and monthly performance tracking. Project performance is measured against Lend Lease s waste reduction and recovery KPI targets. Figure 2 Strathclyde Fire & Rescue Training Centre, site plan (40 acres) The Academic Building providing the administration and technical training for Fire & Rescue personnel who attend the learning and development campus. Located at the front of the campus and extending over two floors, the Academic Building incorporates lecture rooms, a bespoke incident training suite, a career development assessment centre, a 180-seat auditorium, conference rooms, IT rooms, a library and a gymnasium. Practical training facilities consisting of numerous buildings and structures fitted with liquefied petroleum gas fire simulators, set within a community environment to provide a realistic training environment. Features include: a residential area, consisting of a residential village; an industrial area, to simulate hazardous material incidents; and a transport area, to simulate transport-related emergencies. Practical facilities building the hub of the practical zone and main garage area, designed as a mock fire station. The nine-step waste reduction plan Lend Lease has developed a robust corporate approach to (Table 1). The approach ensures that targets and procedures, which encourage innovation The nine-step plan covers the entire construction process, from client engagement through to a completion review. A standardised, web-based site waste management plan database called MINIMISE, developed in conjunction with BRE SmartWaste, is used on all projects. MINIMISE is used to record and monitor data on waste as well as other key environmental metrics such as energy, water and timber. Innovation and continuous improvement are actively encouraged, including trialling new approaches to site waste management and waste data collection. The nine-step plan relates to the key intervention points in the construction process when action should be taken to prevent, reduce or recover construction waste. Each step includes a set of clearly worded tasks, which are supported by a combination of standard forms, checklists and guidance documents. The plan is owned and driven by the project team, with support and troubleshooting advice available from the Lend Lease Environmental Operations Unit. The nine steps allow Lend Lease to apply a standard approach, but in a way that responds to each project s circumstances. For example, the nine steps provide the flexibility to look at each project s design opportunities for waste prevention and to select the waste contractor that can best respond to the waste streams generated by the project. Design stage waste consideration Early consideration of waste by the design team ensured that waste was avoided where 2
Table 1 The nine-step waste reduction strategy (Lend Lease) Step Tools and guidance 1 Client engagement Client checklist Advise the client/design team on waste reduction and align aims with client s aspirations 2 Design team waste minimisation WRAP s Designing out Arrange workshops with the design team to Waste principles and establish responsibilities and opportunities to guidance design out waste 3 Subcontractor waste forecast Contractors to submit waste forecast before Waste forecasts analysis checklist work commences and develop waste management options 4 Waste management options Lend Lease preferred Understand how waste companies deal with contractors list each material and how successful each is at waste stream recovery material recovery objectives 5 Waste contractor procurement WRAP assisted Lend Lend Lease has a list of preferred contractors Lease with model capable of removing waste streams, ensuring procurement wording, that their removal satisfies Lend Lease s which can be found corporate targets of re-use, recycle and recover here 6 Waste training and communication Lend Lease in-house Ensure that the project team is aware of the site training with WRAP waste management plan requirements and their site-practice training responsibilities 7 Waste reporting and targets Operating procedures Collect and keep on file all waste transfer notes that form part of the and ensure that waste contractors provide a Lend Lease monthly breakdown of waste removed and environmental recovery rates achieved management system 8 Ongoing review MINIMISE database The project site waste management plan is and Lend Lease KPIs reviewed monthly to ensure accuracy and to (also monitored track progress against forecasts, with the monthly) project team implementing corrective action where necessary 9 Completion review Review the success of the plan, any deviations and lessons learned Lend Lease KPIs (also monitored monthly) possible before construction had begun. Measures included: Specification of Benchmark s Karrier Panel System (ceramic granite). This walling system is installed separately from the facade, thereby wind- and weatherproofing the building at an earlier stage, enabling internal works to begin before the completion of the façade, reducing time on site and wastage resulting from on site storage of materials. Prefabrication modules for electrical cabling. Brick work was designed to match brick coursing sizes to reduce off-cuts. Standardised metal window shutter sizes to reduce off-cuts. Waste forecasting Lend Lease adopted MINIMISE, the SmartWaste waste management tool, throughout the design stage and run-up to works commencing on site. Lend Lease was able to effectively forecast potential waste generation and in doing so identify opportunities to reduce waste before works had begun. Figure 3 shows an excerpt from the SFR s waste minimisation strategy. Table 2 demonstrates the on site waste savings achieved compared with the predicted waste arisings (2,298 tonnes) through the implementation of the nine steps. Waste management options and waste contractor procurement As part of its focus on continual improvement, Lend Lease has developed a central list of preferred waste contractors that can meet the company s ambitious targets. 3
Figure 3 Strathclyde Fire & Rescue MINIMISE waste minimisation strategy (Lend Lease) Table 2 Strathclyde Fire & Rescue predicted versus actual waste arisings Site waste material Predicted waste arisings (tonnes) Actual waste arisings (tonnes) Savings achieved (tonnes) Wood 18 180.7 162.7 Scrap metals 72 48.3 23.7 General waste 146 146 Inert 3,655 1,022 2,633 Plasterboard 30 84.4 54.4 Hard plastics 3.3 3.3 Packaging 50 20 30 Removed from site for re-use without further processing 23 23 Total waste collected from site and processed 3,825 1,527 2,298 4
Inert 67% Re-use off site Wood 12% AW Jenkinson Woodwaste Ltd Plasterboard Metal 5.5% Plasterboard recycling unit 3% EMR Packaging/hard plastics 1.5% Trident Recycling Various 1.5% Re-use off site Yooz re-use and recycling Construction site waste Mixed waste 9.5% 5.6% Various recyclers Waste transfer station 3.9% Landfill Figure 4 Construction site waste streams Table 3 SFR waste stream destinations and re-use Waste stream Inert Wood Plasterboard Receiver organisation Foulburn Farm (Shotts) AW Jenkinson Woodwaste Ltd Returned to manufacturer Re-use Crushed off site and supplied as 6F2 material to nearby farm Chipboard manufacture or various other recycled wood products Processed to produce five agricultural and two pharmaceutical products Metal EMR Processed to produce new steel Packaging/ hard plastics Trident Recycling Plastic sold to plastic moulding and refinery industries, packaging sold back to mills to produce recycled cardboard and paper goods, polythene returned to plastics industry for recycling Various Yooz Active4All Charitable construction project Project performance Given the nature of SFR, over half of the waste produced (67%) was inert/aggregate waste. All inert waste was sorted and sent for re-use off site at a local farm under a waste management licence exemption to create an equestrian facility (Figure 4). Almost one-quarter (22%) of waste produced on site was baled and compacted, placed in bulk skips and sent directly to reprocessors for recycling. This method provides clean/sorted material which facilities the recycling process while at the same time improving the efficiency of skip loads offering a reduction in skip void space. The sorted materials included wood, metal, plasterboard and hard plastic waste. Most of these will be reprocessed to create new products (specific uses are detailed in Table 3). 5
Table 4 Vehicle journeys avoided through waste management strategy compared with typical practice Carbon savings Quantity Vehicle movements on and off site with traditional skip hire methods 2,100 Vehicle movements on and off site for skip exchange purposes 578 Number of journeys avoided between the waste transfer station and Strathclyde Fire & 1,522 Rescue (approx. 4.5km) Carbon reduction through reduced travel miles (kg CO 2 ) 582 Plasterboard waste was collected and stored as a discrete waste stream on site and was then easily recycled. Waste plasterboard was returned to manufacturers. This approach enabled Lend Lease to ensure that plasterboard waste was removed from the mixed-waste stream and provided reprocessors with quality materials and maximised recovery rates, an initiative very much in tune with government advice. Various re-usable building materials (1.5%), including pipes, plastic fencing, insulation, gypsum, pallets, bricks, timber, drainage channels and breeze blocks, were taken off site for re-use by Yooz Active4All, a charity constructing the first custom-built state-of-the-art sports and activity centre for both disabled and able-bodied individuals. The waste which could not be sent directly to re-use or recycling options (9.5%) was sent to a waste transfer station. Much of this waste was recovered through conventional transfer station processes, resulting in less than 4% of the construction waste overall for the period being sent to landfill. The project implemented a strict segregation policy which reduced the number of vehicle movements that would have been required if a greater amount of mixed waste had been produced for transportation to a waste transfer station. Based on an estimate of the number of journeys that would have been required if all mixed-waste skips had been taken directly to a waste transfer station, the project calculated that 1,522 vehicle journeys had been saved at SFR over the course of the project. The carbon savings were calculated based on the distance to the nearest WTS, which is 4.5km (Table 4). By reducing the number of vehicle journeys associated with waste removal, Lend Lease reduced the associated carbon impact of the project with fewer transport miles; reduced the associated cost of frequent waste removal; achieved a recycling rate far higher than typical practice; and alleviated traffic congestion both at and around the site. Waste reporting and targets All of the waste contractors on Lend Lease s preferred supplier list provided Lend Lease with material types and tonnages collected; destinations of materials for reprocessing; approximate carbon savings from reduction in vehicle movements (calculated using a Defra-approved formula); volume and tonnage of re-use on and off site; and BREEAM input data. 6
Table 5 BREEAM Bespoke 2008 waste credits achieved Credits available Credits awarded Credit requirements How requirements will be achieved Construction resource efficiency Construction resource efficiency Waste 1 Construction site waste management 4 4 Quantity of non-hazardous construction waste is the same as or better than good/best practice levels. For three credits, the amount of waste generated per 100m 2 must be <4.7 tonnes Diversion of resources from landfill Exemplary level: at least 90% by mass of non-hazardous construction waste is diverted from landfill Materials were selected based partly on their ability to deliver minimal wastage Materials/off-cuts were re-used on the project where possible External claddings and some internal units were prefabricated and assembled on site Diversion of resources from landfill The project achieved a recovery rate of 96% Through strict segregation the project ensured that all key waste streams were identified for diversion from landfill 96% of waste was diverted from landfill to predetermined uses Innovation Wst1 Construction site waste management 1 1 Waste diversion and re-use Where at least 80% of non-hazardous and 85% of demolition waste is diverted from landfill through either re-use/return or recovery BREEAM waste credits Lend Lease was committed to achieving all of the available waste credits under BREEAM Bespoke 2008. Five credits have been achieved as a result of the project implementing the nine-step plan (Table 5). Lessons learned Works on the SFR Training Centre demonstrated the value of effective waste management to projects and the importance of ensuring the cooperation of the whole of the supply chain in both minimising waste arisings and ensuring the maximum diversion of resources from landfill. Procurement and commercial managers are crucial in ensuring that the correct quantities of materials are procured in a way that does not create unnecessary waste. It is important for them to understand which materials are likely to generate the most waste, as this provides a focus for improving procurement and on site activities. Lend Lease recognises the importance of working with the right waste management contractor for a given project. Lend Lease strives to understand at the outset of the project the waste management requirements of its subcontractors to maximise the diversion from landfill opportunities at its facilities. Lend Lease now offers targeted training to those trades that typically generate the most waste (e.g. dry-lining) to ensure that more waste is prevented than diverted. Zero Waste Scotland Ground Floor, Moray House, Forthside Way, Stirling, FK8 1QZ. E-mail: helpline@zerowastescotland.org.uk Helpline freephone 0808 100 2040 www.zerowastescotland.org.uk While steps have been taken to ensure its accuracy, Zero Waste Scotland cannot accept responsibility or be held liable to any person for loss or damage arising out of or in connection with this information being inaccurate, incomplete or misleading. This material is copyrighted. It may be reproduced free of charge subject to the material being accurate and not used in a misleading context. The source of the material must be identified and the copyright status acknowledged. This material must not be used to endorse or used to suggest Zero Waste Scotland s endorsement of a commercial product or service. For more detail, please refer to our Terms & Conditions on our website: www.zerowastescotland.org.uk/terms