Waste

Now or Never commits us to eliminating all avoidable construction waste by 2030. 

Zero avoidable waste means preventing waste being generated at every stage of a project’s lifecycle, from the manufacture of materials and products, the design, specification, procurement and assembly of buildings through to deconstruction.

Eliminating waste makes us more efficient, reduces our consumption of natural resources and supports our transition away from the take-make-dispose model of delivery.

Construction waste volume and intensity

During 2022, all new projects included a construction waste elimination plan with targets to monitor the reduction of waste on site. And we require those goods partners we work with most closely to also have a waste reduction strategy in place.

By the end of 2022, we had reduced our construction waste by 58% and our construction waste intensity (relative to turnover) by 66% since 2012.  

We support the circular economy approach to waste reduction and have continued to work with the Pallet LOOP to collect used pallets for re-use and repair. Pallets are often viewed in the construction industry as single-use products that are thrown away, but during 2022, we have reused more than 22,000 pallets through the Pallet LOOP scheme. For example, our Gascoigne East project in Barking alone has reused 3,974 pallets, which if stacked upwards would have been taller than the Shard at 516m. Nationally, across 50 sites, our partnership with the Pallet LOOP reduced waste by 4,500m³ and saved around £60,000 in waste disposal costs in 2022.

Another way we are ensuring our waste is reused is through our partnership with Community Wood Recycling. In 2022, the social enterprise rescued 514 tonnes of wood waste from our sites, reusing 170 tonnes, recycling 277 tonnes and processing 66 tonnes into firewood. The partnership cut our CO₂ emissions from waste wood by 256 tonnes in 2022. During construction of our Northgate Yard site in Bridgwater (below), we worked with the company to remove 26 tonnes of timber from the site to be reused in an environmentally sound way.

Waste diverted from landfill (non-hazardous construction waste only) 

In 2022, diversion of non-hazardous construction waste from landfill remained consistent with performance in 2021. 

Waste diverted from landfill (Demolition and Excavation waste only)

We continued to work with our demolition contractors, but performance has worsened slightly for demolition waste diversion rates compared to last year.

For our excavation waste, our focus is now on finding ways to reuse the earth that is excavated from our sites so that we avoid it becoming a waste (rather than aiming to divert waste away from landfill).  

Across two projects last year, Farnborough Leisure Centre and Queen’s Drive, a mixed residential housing scheme in Swindon, we learned that, by separating brick work and clean concrete at the demolition stage, we could create a high-quality aggregate, called 6F5 (below). This product is classed as a material, not waste, and can be reused, sold or passed on to the customer. In total, we created almost 20,000m³ of 6F5 aggregate, worth over £600,000, which was both reused on site and passed to the customer. In addition, because the need for offsite removal was eliminated, we also avoided 10,530 miles-worth of carbon emissions transporting to the nearest waste contractor.

We remain focused on eliminating single-use plastics from our sites, in our workplaces and at our events. In 2022 we eliminated 19 single-use plastic items from our offices.