BIOREGIONAL RECLAIMED

Demolition Reclamation Service

Structural steel for extraction

Demolition site in London

The demolition industry in the UK has made great progress in waste segregation and increased recycling. There is a ready market for reclaiming valuable architectural salvage, although in some cases bricks and timber that would at one time have been salvaged are now being chipped and crushed and valuable resources are being lost.

BioRegional Reclaimed is often able to find homes for salvage materials that would otherwise go to be chipped, recycled or landfilled. We do this through a network of reclaimers and reusers who positively want to use reclaimed materials for environmental reasons.

Our Pre-extraction Marketing Service matches end users to demolition materials before deconstruction commences. Our approach targets reclamation first and then recycling and achieves higher volumes of reclamation than a conventional strip out or focus on architectural salvage alone.

This “upcycling” approach of reclaiming in the highest possible form can lead to very high overall reclamation and recycling rates, such as 95%. Through clear planning and agreement between the client, developer and demolition contractor, and a clear scheduling and brokering approach, we enable waste to be minimised in a manner that is profitable and with minimum impact to the project schedule.

Our services can be linked to the ICE demolition protocol, BRE’s CORE approach for recycling and engage the services of NISP (www.nisp.org.uk).  The benefits of following this approach are threefold: reduced environmental impact and waste to landfill (against targets), minimised waste disposal costs and income generated from sales of materials.

1.  Reclamation Survey: initial site visit and meeting to identify potential for materials to be reclaimed. This may be followed by a more detailed survey to collect samples, measurements, quantities and descriptions of materials.

2.  Agreement to Proceed. A meeting with the client and/or demolition contractor (depending who has engaged us) to confirm the deconstruction approach and agree the quality, timing and possible storage of materials to be extracted. More material may be reclaimed by planning reclamation earlier in the demolition process so that all parties are committed to the process.

3.  Reclamation Inventory. Summary of materials to be reclaimed in standard format with pictures and brief description. This will group similar items and distinguish between removable items, soft strip and building elements.

4. Communication. Advertising and matching to potential customers and takers.

5.  Facilitation. Attending site visits with customers and takers. Assisting in arranging extraction and collection processes. Client review meetings.

6.  Case Study Report. Quantifies environmental benefits from the reclaimed materials. Example case studies of projects where we have assisted in reclamation of materials from demolition include: Putney, Lambeth schools, Wembley, Staplehurst and the London Olympics.