Pick Everard has developed new guidance to help project teams identify opportunities to retain, reuse and specify materials more effectively
Structured around the RIBA Plan of Work, the new Material Playbook sets out the actions project teams can take at each stage to reduce waste, lower embodied carbon and keep materials in use for longer – all with the goal of driving whole life value.
Tim Danson, director of sustainability and energy at Pick Everard, explained: “One of the biggest challenges for sustainable material management is that historically, responsibility fell between different disciplines, teams and stages of a project.
“This playbook provides a practical, step-by-step framework to help designers, engineers and specifiers make better and more collaborative decisions, make those decisions earlier in the project lifecycle, and thereby afford the greatest opportunity to reduce a project’s environmental footprint.”
Understanding the value of material choices in a changing world
The playbook identifies practical, simple steps to take from the outset of a project, from auditing existing buildings and understanding the value of materials already in place to assessing reuse opportunities and selecting lower-impact products.
Supporting the guidance is the in-house Materials Catalogue, a centralised library of sustainable materials and products that provides access to performance, cost, quantity and embodied carbon information.
The catalogue is used in planning and design optioneering workshops, enabling project teams to compare material choices and identify solutions that meet technical, commercial and environmental requirements.
Material choices are vital for advancing a circular economy
The release of the Material Playbook follows new guidance from the Institute of Sustainability and Environmental Professionals (ISEP).
ISEP’s guidance, Material Pathway Auditing in the Built Environment, calls on the industry to act now to implement best practice and fulfil its role in a circular and net zero economy.
Globally, over 100 billion tonnes of resources are consumed each year. The proportion of that volume subject to some level of circular economy action is worsening.
The carbon footprint of the global construction industry is therefore expected to double by 2050 if short-term approaches to building design and project delivery continue; this model is also expected to play out in the UK if we do not see rapid and systemic change.
New solutions are becoming more accessible
Danson stated: “The scale of the challenge means we need to rethink how we approach materials across the built environment.
“There is a perception that using reused materials is expensive or difficult, but the reality is that shifts in culture, better data, established reuse marketplaces, and new approaches to procurement have made many solutions accessible and viable today.”
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