92% of Waste Recycled Using Off Site Construction

Terrapin recently completed a project for Havering College which resulted in over 90% of the waste produced on site being recycled.

The College’s Ardleigh Green Road Campus has plans to comprehensively redevelop the entire campus, but due to the current economic climate, redevelopment is not able to move forward as quickly as they would have liked.

A new temporary building, therefore, was proposed to replace G Block, which was in a poor condition and required replacing in order to function properly. The new building would provide accommodation for the Estates department, ancillary buildings and add a much needed Higher Education centre and training facilities in a central location.

The new temporary buildings by Terrapin were made to the College’s specifications, replacing the original structures with a more pleasing aesthetic that matched the surrounding buildings and improved the visual impact of the site. The new, 840 square metre building was built using Unitrex and has a natural stone finish, aluminium windows and a complicated pitched roof design.

The college recognised Terrapin as the right company for the project: “There are a number of off site construction techniques, the best one on the market is arguably the Terrapin range of buildings which is the chosen method of construction for the building in this application. Terrapin respond quickly to deliver all the style and quality of a permanent building.”

The new temporary building needed to be up and running by mid Sept 2010 in order to keep essential courses running and to avoid disruption to students and staff. Off site fabrication is the ideal solution to the short lead times often associated with educational buildings, allowing structures to be assembled in a short time during holidays and fitted out before occupation.

Terrapin implements a number of environmental policies and procedures to prevent pollution and to minimise the harmful effect of their actions wherever possible. To achieve such a high percentage of recycled waste, Terrapin ensured the effective management of:

Sustainably sourced raw materials;
Reduction of the consumption of non-renewable sources;
Efficient use of materials and equipment in product and construction processes;
Waste and discharges to ensure that waste is minimised, recycled and re-used where possible, or disposed of in a responsible manner;
Maintenance of site, buildings and employee environmental training.

Due to Terrapin’s sustainable practice, 92.36% of waste produced in constructing the temporary building at Havering Campus was able to be recycled, meaning just 7.64% was sent to landfill.

100% of aggregates, hard core, metals and plasterboard produced during the build was able to be recovered or recycled, totalling 10.43 tons of waste that otherwise would have ended up in a landfill.

Other materials, such as timber, cardboard, paper, plastic and glass were also recycled to the best of Terrapin’s abilities, ranging from 55% to 98.92% of waste material being recycled. The grand total of material able to be recycled came to 20.18 tonnes - over 90% of the entire waste produced during the build.

Calvin Elder, Interim Facilities Supervisor of the Estates Department at Havering sent the following letter regarding the college’s satisfaction of Terrapin’s work, and in particular, Site Supervisor, Richard Furzer:

“In today’s world it is a refreshing change to meet someone as hardworking, diligent and professional as Richard. His ability to motivate without being bullish or bombastic is praiseworthy. He is quite passionate about his work, and manages to instil this concept in his subordinates, whether they be skilled, unskilled, direct employees or sub-contractors with consequential first class results.

“His site was always safe and tidy, irrespective of the processes in train, with all involved being made constantly aware of their responsibilities from a quality and safety aspect, both to themselves and others.

“He is eminently approachable and communicates effectively at all levels, and resolved all situations he was confronted with easily and efficiently. He has the unique ability to never encounter “problems”; to him they appear only as opportunities to present solutions.

“The whole practical side of the project, from a client perspective, has been a complete success, due in no small part to Richard. He is a total credit to your company.”

More images of the Havering build can be found at Terrapin’s Flickr Profile, or on the Terrapin Ltd Facebook Page