THOUGHT LEADERSHIP ON SMART REPURPOSE

The third in the successful series of Go Green or Go Home round tables from Resonate Interiors centred around the subject of smart repurpose. The lively conversation was hosted by Pernille Bonser CEO of Resonate Interiors and creator of the Go Green or Go Home series who was joined by industry experts David Entwistle, Director of Major Projects Saint-Gobain, Guy Bonser, Director at Gleeds, George Stainton Director at General Demolition, Emily Knott, Communications & Sustainability Manager UK & Ireland Bene, Marco Franchi, CEO & Owner of Franchi Specifications, Claire Bustard, Director at Seven, Dawn Potter, Senior Design Manager at Overbury and Robert Smith, Director at Material Index. Also joining the conversations from Resonate were Marissa Wallder, Senior Associate and Venetia Flint, Sustainability Co-Ordinator. Held in the beautiful Clerkenwell showroom of Bene, the focus was on sharing stories relating to sustainability and reuse.

Pernille introduced the enthusiastic panel who were all keen to discuss their views on repurposing waste whilst also learning from each other. The panel discussion began with Emily Knott who showed an inspiring video that explained how Bene had helped a client repurpose its’ unwanted furniture when moving office. Bene was able to partner with a sustainability company called Waste2Wonder who were able to do an audit of the furniture that was capable of being reused and took away the furniture to donate to a school in Cameroon. Knott explained “we managed to reuse 100% of their existing furniture items, which is absolutely fantastic. For this project we save around 40,000 kilograms of carbon emissions and donated furniture with a market value of around £35,000.

George Stainton from General Demolition detailed what his company did with the total waste that comes out of the big projects that they typically work on. Stainton said, “noteworthy projects we have worked on recently are 40 Argyle Street, Bellgrove House and City Hall, all of which we’ve been able to achieve really high reuse rates. I think our reuse rate for waste on a kilogram basis at City Hall is around 25%”. Stainton continued, “With Bellgrove house, we saved over 65,000 bricks. It’s pretty standard for us to try and look at ways of cleaning and reclaiming bricks on every one of our projects … it’s not just about the sort of a moral aspect of it, but also good business”.

Robert Smith from Material Index explained how his inspiring business worked “We’re all about enabling more reuse by providing an auditing service. We were appointed by the client at 40 Argyle Street to do their pre-demolition audit, using our digital platform, we capture every component in the building at a very granular level”. Smith adds “what was great about that project, and why it’s been one of our better ones is because we engaged early, and the communication was there with General Demolition. The demolition part is key to unlocking actual reuse, we’re getting these guys on board making sure they’ve got the right pallets, the right crates and equipment they might not normally have when it comes to deconstruction rather than demolition, it’s also really important not to impact their program, which is very cost sensitive”.

Dawn Potter from Overbury spoke about the challenges they face as a large contractor when attempting to incorporate reused materials into office fit outs. Dawn explained that it was crucial to get the client on board from the beginning and high light to them the social values as to why they need to do this and why is a valuable tool for companies.

Marco Franchi from Franchi spoke about how companies identify suitable reuse materials into office designs whilst maintaining their aesthetic appeal: “We get in early before the offices are stripped out, that’s when you can assess the value of the ironmongery and also work out what can be donated for social causes.” Marissa from Resonate Interiors adds “I think our biggest thing is that we like to create a beautiful workspace but it’s not just about beauty. It’s about the authenticity behind what we’re doing”.

Guy Bonser of Gleeds spoke about how reuse is seen as a positive in his field “ The market has changed massively in the last 2 years we have big developer clients who need to lead the charge, the old Navy & Army building are going for zero net carbon so that’s something. We have not seen anyone put in raised floors in the last three or four months, now even the agents of buildings are asking us when buildings are refurbished if the raised floors have been refurbished, it is seen as a benefit. There are companies specialising in refurbishing and cleaning raised floors, it is a massive growth industry”.

Pernille asked Claire Bustard from Seven do end users really have an appetite for repurposed furniture? Claire responded, “Everybody is interested but they don’t know how to do it, it can also be seen as a retention tool if potential employees know you do the right thing, then this as a company will resonate”.

David Entwistle from Saint Gobain, set out their approach to glass recycling and reuse and emphasised the role of the client: “We’ve talked a lot about clients and they’re the key to unlocking this whole situation for us. We go to site, we do an audit, and it’s really interesting, because it doesn’t just inform people of how to recover glass in a way, we can recycle … we’re not reusing. We’re recycling back into glass, closed loop recycling. Glass is 100% recyclable, and infinitely recyclable and doesn’t degrade, so it’s perfect”.

Venetia from Resonate Interiors spoke about the enthusiasm from clients on sustainability as a successful practice. She said, “Clients can resonate with a piece of furniture that’s been reused, people get excited that the are reusing the same table or chair from their previous office, once we’ve repolished or redesigned it for it’s second, third or fourth life cycle”.

This led into a conversation about the idea of product passports which can be used to show the recycling or reusing history that any one product has been through. Rob Smith from Material Index confirmed that they offered product passports to their clients.

The third edition of Go Green or Go Home showed the significant advances that the repurposing industry has made. The vast amount of experience across the panel suggests that there can be a sustainable future for offices in London through the important recycling and reuse work carried out.