Refurbishment Waste Benchmarking Report

Transcription

1 Benchmarking Report

2 Benchmarking Executive Summary This project, carried out under the Construction Resources and Waste Platform (CRWP), aims to address a gap in information in the construction industry. Its focus is to address the shortage of data on waste from refurbishment projects and to produce refurbishment waste benchmarks as guidance information for both government and refurbishment project managers. In 2006, 8.1 million homes were deemed to be nondecent; 6.8 million in the private sector and 1.3 million in the social sector. Studies to determine the value of repair and maintenance works carried out in Great Britain during 2007 amounted to a total of 52,163M. Half of this was spent on housing and half on other works. This was evenly split between the public and private sectors. Refurbishment benchmarks have been generated using BRE s established waste monitoring tool, SMARTWaste. This tool has been used by many construction contractors for both public and private sector projects over a number of years and is the most comprehensive source of data on different types of construction projects. The SMARTWaste tool was developed principally with new build construction projects in mind and as such collects data, in measurement terms, more closely aligned with these projects. The overall objective of this project is to capture an increased amount of refurbishment waste data to enable the generation of reliable benchmarks for refurbishment projects and, more latterly, to determine how the waste monitoring tool could be adapted to meet the requirements of refurbishment projects. As there are a limited number of datasets on refurbishment projects, the initial benchmarks produced include preliminary values for each type of refurbishment project as classified by the SMARTWaste system. These have been generated in line with the new build construction work Performance Indicators where waste volume or tonnage is related to 100 m 2 floor area and to 100k project value. The functional unit for refurbishment activities are defined in a different way to new build projects and therefore it is proposed that indicators more appropriate to refurbishment projects could be produced, such as tonnes of waste per kitchen. This would provide practitioners with a more useful measure with which to compare the performance of different refurbishment projects. The following refurbishment benchmarks are included in this report: 3 > > m of waste/100m 2 for Commercial retail, Commercial office and Residential projects 3 > > m of waste/ 100k for Commercial retail, Commercial office, Education, Leisure and Residential projects 2 > > tonnes of waste/100m for Commercial retail, Commercial office and Residential projects tonnes of waste/ 100k for Commercial retail, Commercial office, Education, Leisure and Residential projects These benchmarks are a starting point for those practitioners who currently have no historical data upon which to base their waste forecasts. With increased project data, the accuracy of these benchmarks will improve. Development of SMARTWaste Plan to include a refurbishment capability will potentially generate a number of benchmarks appropriate for different types of refurbishment activities and will be aligned with the requirements of the Site Waste Management Plan Regulations. A listing of future work to enhance the capture of refurbishment waste data necessary to generate more robust performance benchmarks is included. This centres around BRE s development of the SMARTWaste tool to include a specific refurbishment waste capability.

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4 Benchmarking Contents Introduction 02 Description of the project 04 Findings 09 Conclusion and recommendations 25 References 27 Appendix A Waste monitoring tools SMARTStart and SMARTWaste Plan 29 Appendix B Paper-based refurbishment waste monitoring template 32 Appendix C Criteria used to determine which project data to include in 38 the calculation of the refurbishment benchmarks Appendix D Refurbishment client organisations contacted 39 benchmarking report Prepared for Name Construction Resources and Waste Platform Prepared by Name Wendy Thorpe Position Senior Consultant Approved on behalf of BRE Name Katherine Adams Position Principal Consultant BRE Garston WD25 9XX T + 44 (0) F + 44 (0) E enquiries@bre.co.uk This report is made on behalf of BRE. By receiving the report and acting on it, the client - or any third party relying on it - accepts that no individual is personally liable in contract, tort or breach of statutory duty (including negligence).

5 Benchmarking Page 02 Introduction This project has been funded through Defra s Business Resource Efficiency and Waste programme (BREW) which aims to deliver government strategy that is aligned with the needs of industry. It is one of a number of projects being carried out under the Construction Resources and Waste Platform (CRWP) to address a gap in information in the construction industry related to waste and resources. Four main criteria are used to define a decent home: 1. It must meet the statutory minimum standard for housing 2. It needs to be in a reasonable state of repair 3. It should have reasonably modern facilities and services 4. It provides a reasonable degree of thermal comfort. It is the aim of this project to address the shortage of data on refurbishment projects and to produce refurbishment benchmarks as guidance information for both government and refurbishment project managers. This will enable the identification of key waste streams and help to inform where waste minimisation activities should be undertaken and also waste management strategies to deal with the waste arisings. This report is an output for Defra through AEA under contract number Key drivers for refurbishment A number of national drivers are having an influence on the refurbishment market. The main ones include: 1. Government policy and regulation 2. Environmental issues Government policy and regulation The Decent Homes Standard 1 is the most important policy influencing the refurbishment of homes. Homes in both the private and social housing sectors are classified by the Decent Homes Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) and must meet statutory minimum standards to provide decent living accommodate for occupants. In 2006, 37% of all private and social sector homes were deemed to be non-decent. This amounted to 8.1 million homes; 6.8 million in the private sector and 1.3 million in the social sector. 2 In Wales, the Welsh Housing Quality Standard (WHQS) 3, introduced by the Welsh Assembly Government, is working in a similar way to Decent Homes, requiring the refurbishment and modernisation of the local authority and social housing stock. Seven main criteria are used to define the required standard. A dwelling must be: 1. In a good state of repair 2. Safe and secure 3. Adequately heated, fuel efficient and well insulated 4. Fitted with an up-to-date kitchen and bathroom 5. Well managed (rented housing) 6. Located in attractive and safe environment 7. As far as possible, suit the specific requirements of the household (eg specific disabilities). Planning regulations can influence whether refurbishment or new construction is undertaken. Planning permission requirements for demolition, listed buildings or other circumstances can be a difficult process and drive the decision to carry out refurbishment works. There is a significant amount of refurbishment work undertaken on building types other than housing, such as local amenities; schools and leisure facilities, offices and retail establishments. 1. Full details of the Decent Homes Standard can be found on the Communities and Local Government website 2. CLG website for statistics 3. Detailed guidance on the WHQS can be found at:

6 Benchmarking Page 03 In the Construction Statistic Annual 2008, it is reported that 3 billion (26%) of the capital expenditure of local authorities (around 12 billion) in England in 2005/2006 was spent on the conversion and renovation of educational establishments. Repair and Maintenance work (RMI) on housing and other works in 2007, including both public and private sectors, amounted to 52.2 billion. This was evenly split (50/50) between housing and the other works undertaken. The latest version of BREEAM (2008) has introduced credits for materials and waste as separate headings with an increased total contribution to the credits that can be achieved. In the 2006 version, materials and waste comprised 10% of the credits. In the 2008 version, materials can contribute 12.5% and waste 7.5% of the credits, giving a potential 20% credit (a 100% increase). Meeting waste management criteria, for example, segregation and sorting of waste groups, and quantity criteria, where the generation of less waste attracts more credits, for both new build and refurbishment and fit out can achieve credits. Public sector spending on RMI was 17.3 billion whilst private sector spending was 34.9 billion. The amount spent on all new build works, both housing and other works, in 2007 was 69.8 billion. Environmental issues Improving environmental sustainability is a major component of the sustainability agenda of which carbon emissions is a key criteria. The energy consumption of buildings makes a significant contribution to the UK s carbon emissions and so, targets to reduce the emission levels from buildings will help achieve the Government s UK carbon reduction target of 60% by Energy Efficient measures focussing on heating, which consumes about 60% of the energy used by households, can reduce the carbon emission from a building. EcoHomes 4 for existing buildings allows existing housing to be assessed and monitored. This can be used to track improvements made by maintenance programmes and ensure that the standard required by Decent Homes is reached. 4. BREEAM and Ecohomes provide assessment methods designed to help construction professionals understand and mitigate the environmental impacts of the developments they design and build. They provide a rating for new, converted or renovated homes, and cover houses, flats and apartments balancing environmental performance with the need for a high quality of life and a safe and healthy internal environment.

7 Benchmarking Page 04 Description of the project The objectives of the project were: To identify project partners to provide waste data from a wide range of refurbishment projects to enable the development of benchmarks for refurbishment. To encourage and assist property owners and contractors in using SMARTWaste Plan 5 to increase the datasets it contains. To produce templates for collecting refurbishment waste data. To collate statistics on refurbishment waste for a wide range of project types. BRE s established waste monitoring tool, SMARTWaste 6, has been used by many construction contractors for both public and private sector projects over a number of years. The database contains waste data on a number of refurbishment projects (the type of project has to be specified in a data entry field when a project is registered on the system), however, there is currently insufficient data on different types of refurbishment project, for example, no healthcare building projects, and an inconsistent method of recording this information to produce robust benchmarks. In total, 14% of the 569 projects containing waste data entered onto the original SMARTWaste database were refurbishment projects. The SMARTWaste tool was developed principally with new build construction projects in mind and as such collects data, in measurement terms, more closely aligned with these projects. The aim of this project was to capture an increased amount of refurbishment waste data to enable the generation of reliable benchmarks for refurbishment projects and, more latterly, to determine how the waste monitoring tool could be adapted to meet the requirements of refurbishment projects. This will enable the identification of key waste streams and help to inform where waste minimisation activities should be undertaken, and waste management strategies implemented in order to deal with the waste arisings. The work was divided into three interdependent tasks to achieve the objectives, and focussed on the use of BRE s database of construction waste data, SMARTWaste, to produce benchmarks. The three tasks were: Establishment of key data requirements and production of templates Identification of stakeholders and refurbishment projects Data collection and analysis Establishment of key data requirements and production of templates To increase the amount of refurbishment waste data contained within the BRE SMARTWaste database and thus improve the reliability of the benchmarks generated, this task aimed to encourage industry to use the web-based SMARTWaste tool where practicable. For instances where the use of an on-line tool was either not practicable or not the chosen method of recording data, a paper-based template (covering the data requirements of the website) was produced to facilitate on site data capture. The format of the template enables individuals to transfer the recorded data to the website at a later time if desired. The initial templates developed are shown in Appendix B. These have not been circulated widely as most of the projects being undertaken are currently recorded directly onto the SMARTWaste system, or audits have been conducted by a member of the BRE team. Sometimes, before refurbishment works are carried out, a pre-refurbishment audit is conducted. 5. Further development of the SMARTWaste tool has been undertaken to enable users to comply with new regulations on waste management Site Waste Management Plan Regulations 2008 and has been redesigned and renamed as SMARTWaste Plan. 6. BRE s original SMARTWaste tool was identified by the name SMARTStart. This tool has been updated and renamed SMARTWaste Plan. A description of the two different waste monitoring tools is provided in Appendix A.

8 Benchmarking Page 05 A pre-refurbishment audit is a method of identifying, measuring and recording the types and amounts of material or items that will occur and be removed as a result of the refurbishment activity being undertaken. Typically, but not a prerequisite of an audit, this information may be used to assist in identifying options for recovery/reuse, recycling and, if necessary, the method of disposal of those materials or items. Project manager and contractor stakeholders have been consulted to determine how the newly developed SMARTWaste Plan could be developed further to accommodate refurbishment projects and the data recorded for those projects. Modifications to the paperbased template will be made in light of their comments taking into account the most frequently required building components/elements, appropriate units of measurement, materials/compositional details and a reporting structure that will provide useful feedback information. In order to develop the SMARTWaste Plan capability to monitor refurbishment projects, stakeholders who have undertaken, are undertaking or are planning to undertake refurbishment activities were consulted on how the tool could be improved to accommodate the requirements of these activities. Their opinions and its likely influence on how the SMARTWaste Plan tool can most usefully be developed to capture refurbishment project data are presented in Section 3 (Findings) of this report. Table 1 SMARTWaste system classification of project types Classification Civil engineering Commercial Retail Commercial Offices Commercial other Education Healthcare Industrial Buildings Leisure Public buildings Residential Other (specify) The review identified where only limited data was available and also where no data is held on the database for refurbishment of certain types of construction. To improve the robustness of the refurbishment benchmarks through increasing the number of datasets that have been used to generate the benchmarks, several projects were identified as potential sources of refurbishment data. Identification of stakeholders and refurbishment projects A review of the SMARTWaste database projects was conducted to determine how many refurbishment projects were on the system and which types of activity these covered, for example, commercial retail refurbishment, residential refurbishment or one of the other classifications of construction type listed in the SMARTWaste system as shown in Table 1.

9 Benchmarking Page 06 Table 2 Potential project data for input into benchmarks Project source Number of projects Tzero - TSB 7 funded project 27 Heads of Valleys Programme The Welsh Assembly 3 Government regeneration strategy CoRE Construction Resource Efficiency 8 Refurbishment of the BRE s Stable Block 1 Sainsburys refurbishment projects 8 7 McDonald refurbishment projects 9 1 Pre-refurbishment audits 2 Building Research Housing Group 3 and Networking contacts Stakeholders were contacted to establish their potential involvement and support requirements. The refurbishment projects for which data had already been input into the SMARTWaste database and those that would be available were identified by construction classification, as in Table 1, size of project and timeframe of project; by start and end date. Along with the additional projects that could provide data, (see Table 2), a list of the number of refurbishment projects by construction classification was produced and is presented in Table 3. Table 3 Number of potential refurbishment projects by project type (April 2008) Classification Number of projects Civil engineering 4 Commercial Retail 13 Commercial Offices 11 Commercial other 1 Education 13 Healthcare 10 Industrial Buildings 3 Leisure 6 Public buildings 21 Residential 47 Mixed 1 TOTAL Technology Strategy Board. 8 These use the SMARTWaste system 9 Data from a pre-refurbishment audit has been used.

10 Benchmarking Page 07 Data from some, but not all, of these projects have been used to calculate refurbishment project benchmarks due to some of the projects being incomplete and some being registered but having entered no waste data. Logical analyses were applied to determine which project data should be included in the benchmark calculations. These criteria are given in Appendix C. Data collection and analysis Property owners and contractors have been encouraged to use SMARTWaste Plan or the paper-based template. This data was not readily available for the calculation of the initial refurbishment benchmarks presented in this report. However, subsequent data entry onto the SMARTWaste system will enable the data to be collected and to contribute to future revised benchmarks. Although there is a limited amount of data on the database by construction classification, preliminary benchmarks have been produced according to the type (commercial offices/retail, residential, etc.) of project. The robustness of the benchmarks will be improved with time. Other sets of refurbishment waste data have been obtained other than those using the SMARTWaste system to record and monitor their waste directly. These additional datasets have been collated by the refurbishment project client/manager or auditor and the method of recording and analysis has been conducted in several different ways. The data recorded meets the requirements of the different organisations but does not necessarily contain all the information needed to calculate performance benchmarks from the SMARTWaste system. Typically, the floor area or project cost, used to calculate the benchmarks, are missing.

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12 Benchmarking Page 09 Findings Stakeholder/Practitioner opinions Residential Following attendance at waste management and housing related events, it was evident that there was interest and support from refurbishment clients for the development of standard methodology for the measurement and monitoring of wastes arising from refurbishment activities. The development of a user-friendly web-based tool designed to record and analyse refurbishment data was also positively supported. Several practitioners have offered to provide data, contributing to national refurbishment benchmarks, and are willing to assist in the development of the tool. Initial contact made with housing providers at the Annual Conference of the Building Research Housing Group (BRHG) was followed up with an explaining the objectives of the refurbishment benchmarking project and providing members of the BRHG with information on SMARTWaste Plan. BRHG members were invited to contact the project manager if they were willing to assist in the refurbishment project. Several housing providers have been consulted and have provided useful feedback for the development of the tool. Appendix D contains a list of client organisations contacted. A key driver for refurbishment work being undertaken by many housing providers is the Decent Homes programme specified by the Department for Communities and Local Government. The works undertaken in these refurbishments involve many common building components namely, upgrading kitchens, bathrooms, central heating systems, windows and doors etc. The ability of the developed SMARTWaste Plan to accept information on these building components would be extremely useful. Several different methods are used to estimate the amount and type of waste likely to arise from refurbishment works. The methods include: 1. Quantity surveyor estimation. 2. Test sample measurement on a typical refurbishment unit. 3. Reliance on historical data/knowledge of contractors. 4. Rough estimation of typical skip content and total number of skips likely to be required over the project timescale. An allowance is sometimes applied to accommodate slight variations in the works undertaken for a typical refurbishment unit. The allowance is necessary to account for different types of occupation, for example, a property for a disabled person may have atypical modifications. Waste data is recorded by volume and tonnage. Data is generally provided from waste transfer station and weighbridge measurements. On-site monitoring is sometimes undertaken with site operatives estimating the weight of a component using manual assessment ie. more than one person guessing the weight by picking an item up. Project managers and contractors were not overly concerned about how the data is recorded, though most would like the feedback indicators in terms of tonnage. Examples of useful indicators for practitioners are tonnes of waste per kitchen or tonnes of waste per one bedroom flat. Most projects set a target for recycling. A practical issue was raised with respect to the influence of external factors on the achievement of targets. It was pointed out that the capacity of some recycling facilities is being severely stretched by demand and this could impact on the achievement of recycling targets.

13 Benchmarking Page 10 Commercial Feedback on commercial refurbishment projects from four contractors ( two main and two subcontractors) suggests that the waste data collected is closely aligned with the SMARTWaste Plan tool in its current format. Waste is measured by volume and/or tonnage and is recorded on and off site. Off site measurement and the accurate breakdown of skip material is typically the responsibility of the waste management contractor who will feed this data back to the client, principal contractor or subcontractor. On site monitoring of skip content can have advantages and disadvantages, positive issues relate to the immediate feedback on waste, its arising and the opportunities for early intervention, whilst the requirement for site space and resources to record its contents are seen as drawbacks. Forecasting the quantities of waste that are likely to arise from the refurbishment works is based on 1. Data from previous similarly sized projects 2. In-house prediction systems using dimensions from design drawings 3. Specialist software Historically, fit-out subcontractors have not dealt with the disposal of their own waste, using skips on site, ordered and paid for by the principal contractor. Increasingly, these subcontractors are taking responsibility for their own waste and have put into practice methods of measuring the content of, and policing, their receptacles. They pay for their own waste and are careful to ensure other contractors are not using these receptacles, thus they are more aware of how much waste they produce. Records of data will therefore become more readily available than before. Additional waste associated with carrying out refurbishment works but not arising directly from the refurbishment, for example, the erection of works site offices, could also be recorded but reported separately. In some instances, the site office is simply relocated from one site to another. In others, they are demolished entirely and disposed of by waste management contractors when some of the materials could in fact be reused in the erection of a new site office. A log of the waste occurring from these more spurious sources (for example, through a simple pre-demolition audit) and where these originated could improve the predication of the waste associated with particular project types. A useful feedback indicator for the user includes the recycling rate expressed as waste recycled as a percentage of total waste. Since waste data from commercial refurbishments are in a form readily entered into the SMARTWaste Plan tool, the current calculations of volume of waste relative to 100m 2 floor area and 100k project cost are still valuable indicators. Refurbishment data There are a number of refurbishment projects currently registered on the SMARTWaste database. Some of these have waste data entered onto the system, whilst others have not. Of those registered projects without any data entry, some are projects that have not started yet, and some were registered some time ago but have yet to be populated with project data. In the two months following the original project deadline of March 2008, an increased number of refurbishment projects have been registered onto the BRE waste monitoring tool. Some of this increase is very likely to be a result of the new Site Waste Management Plan Regulations (effective as of 6th April 2008) that has made it necessary for projects above 300k to produce a site waste management plan, has raised awareness within the industry of the need to monitor and track their waste more closely, and also enlightened clients who are now making it a requirement within their contracts that contractors demonstrate their duty of care and provide evidence of this.

14 Benchmarking Page 11 In addition to those projects using the SMARTWaste system to record and monitor their waste directly, other sets of refurbishment waste data have been obtained. These additional datasets have been collated by the refurbishment project client/manager or auditor and the method of recording and analysis has been conducted in several different ways. Some of the data are from prerefurbishment audits and are not actual waste arisings data. The real versus estimated waste arising figures are not available in some cases (where a pre-refurbishment audit has been undertaken but there will not be any actual waste data from the project) or in other cases will become available but not until some time in the future when the refurbishment works have been completed. The latter data would inform revised future benchmarks. The team have analysed and incorporated, where possible, the additional data into the refurbishment benchmarks. Some of the data could not be used, as insufficient background information, (either floor area or project cost), to enable the calculation of indicators was recorded. This exercise has highlighted the need for a consistent approach to measuring, monitoring and reporting on refurbishment waste. Refurbishment waste benchmarks according to construction classification have been produced from data contained within the SMARTWaste system. Performance indicators are expressed as volume of waste per 100 m 2 of floor area (EPI) and/or volume of waste per 100k project value (KPI) depending on the project data that is available 10. These volumes have been converted into tonnages of waste using the Environment Agency s conversion factors. Tables 4 to 11 below present the EPI and KPI benchmarks for the different waste categories in the system for refurbishment and new build projects by construction classification and give a total waste performance indicator. Figures 1 to 8 provide a graphical presentation of the benchmark data. It should be noted that where there are less than three projects contributing to the benchmark, these categories have not been shown on the graphs since unusual data entries will not have been normalised by the use of larger data sets. 10. Data from a project will be included in both the EPI and KPI if the floor area and project value information are available. If only one of these reference parameters is available, the project data will only contribute to the indicator that uses this parameter. i.e. a project with floor area only will be included in the EPI calculation whilst a project with project value only will be included in the KPI calculation.

15 Benchmarking Page 12 Table 4 EPI benchmarks (m 3 waste/100m 2 ) for refurbishment projects (SMARTStart August figures) Description Commercial Retail Commercial Office Education Healthcare Industrial Buildings Leisure Residential Canteen/office/adhoc Ceramics/bricks Concrete Electrical equipment Furniture Hazardous Inert Insulation Liquids and oils Metals Packaging Plaster/cement Plastics Timber Total Number of projects Figure 1. Average EPI by product type related to refurbishment project types

16 Benchmarking Page 13 Table 5 EPI benchmarks for new build projects (SMARTStart August 2008 figures) Description Civil Engineering Commercial Retail Commercial Office Education Healthcare Industrial Buildings Leisure Public Buildings Canteen/office/ad-hoc Ceramics/bricks Concrete Electrical equipment Furniture Hazardous Inert Insulation Liquids and Oils Metals Packaging Plaster/cement Plastics Timber Total Number of projects Residential Figure 2. Average EPI by product type related to new build project types

17 Benchmarking Page 14 Table 6 KPI benchmarks (m 3 waste/ 100k) for refurbishment projects (SMARTStart August 2008 figures) Description Commercial Retail Commercial Office Education Healthcare Industrial Buildings Leisure Public Buildings Canteen/office/adhoc Ceramics/bricks Concrete Electrical equipment Furniture Hazardous Inert Insulation Liquids and oils Metals Packaging Plaster/cement Plastics Timber Total Number of projects Residential Figure 3. Average KPI by product type related to refurbishment project types

18 Benchmarking Page 15 Table 7 KPI benchmarks for new build projects (SMARTStart August 2008 figures) Description Civil Engineering Commercial Retail Commercial Office Education Healthcare Industrial Buildings Leisure Public Buildings Canteen/office/ad-hoc Ceramics/bricks Concrete Electrical equipment Furniture Hazardous Inert Insulation Liquids and Oils Metals Packaging Plaster/cement Plastics Timber Total Number of projects Residential Figure 4. Average KPI by product type related to new build project types

19 Benchmarking Page 16 Table 8 Performance indicator (tonnes waste/100m 2 ) for refurbishment projects Description Commercial Retail Commercial Office Education Healthcare Industrial Buildings Leisure Public Buildings Canteen/office/ad-hoc Ceramics/bricks Concrete Electrical equipment Furniture Hazardous Inert Insulation Liquids and Oils Metals Packaging Plaster/cement Plastics Timber Total Number of projects Figure 5. Average performance indicator (tonnes waste/100m²) for refurbishment projects

20 Benchmarking Page 17 Table 9 Tonnes of waste/100m 2 floor area for new build projects (SMARTStart August 2008 figures) Description Civil Engineering Commercial Retail Commercial Office Education Healthcare Industrial Buildings Leisure Public Buildings Canteen/office/ad-hoc Ceramics/bricks Concrete Electrical equipment Furniture Hazardous Inert Insulation Liquids and Oils Metals Packaging Plaster/cement Plastics Timber Grand Total Number of projects Residential Figure 6. Tonnes of waste/100m² floor area by product type related to new build project types

21 Benchmarking Page 18 Table 10 Performance indicator (tonnes waste/ 100k) for refurbishment projects Description Commercial Retail Commercial Office Education Healthcare Industrial Buildings Leisure Public Buildings Canteen/office/ad-hoc Ceramics/bricks Concrete Electrical equipment Furniture Hazardous Inert Insulation Liquids and Oils Metals Packaging Plaster/cement Plastics Timber Total Number of projects Residential Figure 7. Average performance indicator (tonnes waste/ 100k) for refurbishment projects

22 Benchmarking Page 19 Table 11. Tonnes of waste/ 100k for new build projects (SMARTStart August 2008 figures) Description Civil Engineering Commercial Retail Commercial Office Education Healthcare Industrial Buildings Leisure Public Buildings Canteen/office/ad-hoc Ceramics/bricks Concrete Electrical equipment Furniture Hazardous Inert Insulation Liquids and Oils Metals Packaging Plaster/cement Plastics Timber Grand Total Number of projects Residential Figure 8. Tonnes of waste/ 100k project by product type related to new build project types

23 Benchmarking Page 20 Although refurbishment benchmarks have been produced for the different construction classifications, these should only be used as preliminary guidance values, as the number of projects contributing to the benchmarks is limited. The robustness of the benchmarks will improve as the amount of data contained within the database is increased.increased use of the system is anticipated in light of recent changes in waste management regulations. It is also anticipated that more refurbishment data will be entered into the system once a dedicated refurbishment project capability is developed for the SMARTWaste system. Use of the additional project data identified has enabled the commercial retail benchmarks to be recalculated to include data for 24 projects (m 3 waste/100 m 2 ) and 25 projects (m 3 waste/ 100k). Table 12. Benchmarks for commercial retail refurbishment projects m 3 waste/100 m 2 m 3 waste/ 100k Commercial retail Number of projects Additional data for residential projects has been collected from different sources (one project from South East of England, one from North East England and one from Wales). However, due to the variation in method used, data available and data not available, only a tentative indicator based on tonnes of waste per 100 m 2 of floor area has been produced. This indicator is based on pre-refurbishment audits of large housing stocks and a mixture of property types. Actual waste arisings will become available from the housing provider projects upon completion. Also, a large amount of residential refurbishment data can be anticipated as a result of government policy drivers and waste monitoring requirements. Capturing this data using the SMARTWaste system should give progressively more robust indicators. Table 13. Tentative benchmark for residential refurbishment projects based on pre-refurbishment audits Residential 13.1 Number of projects 3 tonnes / per 100 m 2 Comparison of the refurbishment benchmarks with the benchmark performance indicators for all projects entered on the BRE SMARTWaste system reported in an unpublished final report delivered to Defra for a project Understanding and Predicting Construction Waste (WR0111). The report indicates that the refurbishment benchmarks are higher than the indicators for Standard Practice 11 for all projects. This suggests the refurbishment projects are, as could be anticipated, generating high levels of waste and are likely to be inflating the overall indicators for all projects. 11. The data was divided into quartiles to show standard, good and best practice. The lower quartile for waste volume generated has been assigned as Best Practice, the next quartile assigned as Good Practice and the top two quartiles assigned as Standard Practice.

24 Benchmarking Page 21 The total refurbishment and new build benchmarks (tonnes of waste by floor area and tonnes of waste by project value) from Tables 8 to 11 in this report have been extracted for comparison in Table 14 below. Commercial office and retail refurbishments appear to generate fewer tonnes of waste than during new build. A more detailed review of the waste arisings in Tables 8 to 11 by product type indicates that the biggest differences occur as a result of concrete and inert waste quantities arising during new build. These materials occur when a site is prepared for new build construction but could potentially be reused on-site rather than removed or disposed off site. The amount of canteen/office/adhoc waste arising during commercial retail refurbishments is however, high and would be identified as an area needing to be addressed. The entry data would need to be checked for accuracy otherwise the reasons for the waste occurrence should be identified. Residential indicators are mixed. Despite the small number of refurbishment projects, the trend seen with the waste arisings is logical. The electrical equipment and furniture waste arisings from refurbishment projects are predictably higher than from new build. Table 14. Extracted tonnage-based benchmarks for comparison Commercial Retail Commercial Office Residential Refurb New build Refurb New build Refurb New build Tonnes/100m (6) 8.8 (27) 6.4 (4) 11.7 (24) 10.9(5) 7.9 (116) Tonnes/ 100k 4.6 (4) 6.2 (24) 6.2 (4) 10.3 (22) 16.2 (9) 11.1 (112) NB: Number of project in brackets. Higher benchmark value in bold. A review of the product wastes occurring from the refurbishment of commercial retail, commercial offices and residential projects shows that: Retail projects have a high occurrence of concrete and canteen/office/adhoc waste compared to the other project types. Comparison of the tonnage-based refurbishment waste indicators with the volume-based indicators show that the values based on tonnes are lower. In relation to floor area, the tonnage-based indicators are typically half the value of the volume-based indicators. The trend is more varied in relation to project cost. Office projects produce high quantities of inert,insulation, packaging, plaster and cement. Residential projects produce high levels of ceramic/ brick, electrical equipment, furniture, plastics and timber wastes. There are 148 refurbishment projects registered on the SMARTWaste Plan system with 41 projects currently entering waste data. These projects will clearly increase the amount of data used in the calculation of the benchmarks and thus improve their robustness.

25 Benchmarking Page 22 Table 15. Additional projects that will contribute to future refurbishment benchmarks Registered project end date Number of projects July 08 Sept Oct. 08 Dec Jan. 09 March April 09 June 09 9 Unknown 37 As mentioned in the subsections on indicators and functional unit later, it is worth noting that the benchmarks may eventually be defined with reference to other project defined parameters that reflect refurbishment project information more closely. For example, for residential refurbishments in terms of volume of waste per one bedroom flat. Development of the BRE SMARTWaste system will provide useful measures against which project managers can evaluate the performance of their projects. Performance Indicators Due to the complexity of refurbishment projects, there is likely to be a need for a number of different performance indicators. The performance indicators for this report have been produced in the same way as those currently generated for all projects entered on the SMARTWaste Plan database, which are most relevant for new build construction projects. Data for refurbishment projects have been filtered out of the SMARTWaste database for inclusion in the indicators. It is known, however, that the entry data requested upon registration on SMARTWaste Plan are not directly relevant to refurbishment projects and some of the data is therefore incomplete or in some cases a best guess on the part of the contractor/practitioner. The entry data on project value and floor area, used to calculate the current indicators, are not typically used measures for refurbishment projects and so, a more relevant indicator might make reference to work package cost or the functional unit defined for the project. Functional unit Definition of a functional unit for refurbishment projects is complex. Refurbishment projects can encompass a wide range of activities, not just between commercial and residential but also within the commercial sector or within the residential sector and thus, the functional unit of projects is highly variable. It will be necessary to accommodate several different functional units and therefore generate indicators in relation to those units. Residential projects are likely to require several different functional units to capture the broad range of refurbishment activities undertaken, for example, tonnes of waste per bathroom, per kitchen, per flat or per house. The size and diversity of commercial projects suggest that the data capture will be more conducive to the current method of recording waste on SMARTWaste Plan, i.e. volumes or tonnes of waste related to 100 m 2 of floor area and to 100k project value. Development of SmartWaste Plan refurbishment project capability It is proposed that the SMARTWaste Plan tool produced to assist construction clients and contractors in meeting their obligations under the recently legislated Site Waste Management Plan Regulations, be extended to include a capability to record and analyse the waste occurring as a result of various refurbishment activities.

26 Benchmarking Page 23 The requirements of a refurbishment capability are not straightforward as already alluded to in preceding subsections. Some of the functional requirements of the developed capability include: Options for different refurbishment typescommercial, residential, public buildings Options to meet various regulatory requirements Decent Homes, Welsh Housing Quality Standard This list is not exhaustive and may be extended as a result of continuing discussions with stakeholders, both internal and external to BRE. The existence of a specific refurbishment project capability within SMARTWaste Plan will facilitate the collection of more comprehensive refurbishment waste data. It will enable the industry to differentiate between refurbishment and new build waste, measure and monitor the waste generated by specific types of refurbishment activities and provide national benchmarks with which to compare a project s performance. Options to meet environmental requirements BREEAM and EcoHomes XB Options for functional unit work package cost, by refurbishment unit eg,per bathroom, per house, floor area Options for measurement unit weight in tonnes, volume in cubic metres, tonnage per property type Option to use default building components of standard dimensions and construction or userdefined values Option for waste targets based on calculated benchmarks or user-defined targets Commercial refurbishments are more variable than residential refurbishments. They range from minor refurbishment works such as upgrading internal fixtures and fittings for example, recarpeting, replacing office furniture, to more major works, for instance, where there is a complete change of use requiring new room layouts; moving and replacing internal walls; total internal refit and also external works. It is therefore envisaged that the tool capability developed for commercial refurbishment works is likely to contain fewer default values and require greater user input.