waste and greening

Construction, demolition and excavation currently accounts for 32% of landfill waste. As well as the environmental impact, the cost of disposal has risen, making effective waste management an economic necessity for the construction sector. 

PHASES environmental policy sets out a broad vision of how we work to mitigate the environmental impacts of the construction waste we generate. But since we often renovate abandoned buildings, we also have to deal with high volumes of fly-tipped, sometimes hazardous waste, like asbestos,  that may have been dumped on site over the years. To offset the unavoidable costs of specialist disposal, we need to ensure the effective management of all other waste.  To do this, we produce detailed site specific plans, setting out how we can recycle or repurpose materials to avoid them ending up in landfill. We often employ imaginative solutions to help us exceed conventional targets. 

At one of our South London conversions, the old Victorian villa had been empty for nearly twenty years and was almost derelict. The site was filled with hazardous waste and fly-tipped debris. An unsafe bay addition to the house also needed to be brought down. The cost of disposing of this waste would have been high, with many skips heading to landfill. 

Our solution was to use some imaginative landscaping to create terraces for the gardens. The bricks from the demolition were cleaned and used to build retaining walls. The timber structural elements were used in the base of the terraces and covered with topsoil. Lawns were then laid using  turf donated by Westminster Council when Berkeley Square was restored. Felled trees were trimmed to provide seating and garden features. 

The green space created not only became a haven for wildlife and for the families to get in touch with nature, but drastically reduced the amount of waste heading to landfill and helped the project budget, too.