Innovative Technology Award

Winner

Bovis Lend Lease

Contractor Bovis Lend Lease is not content with driving up standards of waste minimisation and site efficiency. It has pressed ahead with creating a really smart way of recycling a commonly used site material – plywood.

The category’s winning concept Re-Plas – short for Recycled Plastic Board - is the sustainable replacement to the traditional five million sheets of plywood hoardings used on constructions sites across the UK per year.

Using a process called Powder Impress Moulding (PIM), dirty, co-mingled waste plastic is recycled to produce products with up to 100% recycled content. The process operates at lower temperature and pressure than conventional fabrication of plastic products and therefore has a reduced environmental impact.

The material is sterilised and then crushed into powder and granules. Together with Land Securities and 3DM, Bovis purchased four moulds capable of producing 50 moulds per day.

Bovis claims the material was just as easy to work with, could be handled by one person, and eliminated the risk of splinters. The hoardings have been successfully trialled on the St David’s retail development in Cardiff and full scale production is planned for 2008.

Runners-up

Barratt Steel Buildings

Specialising in design and build structural steelwork, Barratt Steel Buildings have introduced a programme to assess the impacts of the business and products on the environment.

Through a sustainability policy, Barrett has begun analysing the economic, social and environmental impacts of the business. It has also worked with the British Constructional Steelwork Association (BCSA) to establish a Sustainability Charter which it helped pilot before becoming the first organisation to have achieved new BCSA sustainability charter at the highest standard.

Barrett claim to be the only steel organisation in the UK to have calculated their carbon footprint and have taken steps to reduce its emissions, particularly looking at energy consumption, paper reduction and paint reduction.

Fulcrum Consulting

Faced with a development suffering from excessive external noise and high levels of external air pollution, Fulcrum Consulting cleverly installed the UK’s first low carbon, low cost heating system – the Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage unit to combat the ventilation problem.

The technology provides summer cooling and winter warming without the need to open or close windows. By extracting cold water from a borehole in the summer months, the system can provide direct cooling with the only energy cost coming from the pumping itself. The process is then reversed in the winter months where the heat energy discharged into a second borehole creates a pool of warm water which can be used to heat the building.

The technology has had a successful trial on the developer’s Westway Beacons development where the borehole provides the only supply of potable water to the site.

Green Building Store

Not satisfied with the capabilities of the water-efficient toilets, Green Building Store got their thinking hats on and came up with the Airflush waterless urinal system.

The system eliminates the need for both water and consumables courtesy of a low energy electric fan. The ergonomically-designed porcelain bowl ensures that the urinals are easy to clean and that no clinging residues remain while specially designed waste pipes prevent scale build up and eliminate leaks.

A low wattage long-life DC fan maintains a gentle flow of air down the urinals bowls to provide odour free toilets. The technology is being used in the public sector and commercial settings including visitor centres, offices, schools, sports and leisure venues, hotels and bars.

Lhoist

Ever dreamed about insulating your house with plants? Probably not, but now you can! Tradical Hemcrete, a combination of patented lime based binder and the chopped woody core of the industrial hemp plant, has come to the UK and can be used in wall construction, floor and roof insulation.

Not only does it offer excellent insulation performance, but also good fire resistance and carbon capture during the production and construction. It’s low density, has high thermal and acoustic insulation and has excellent water vapour permeability. The dream gets better; a typical house insulated with Tradical Hemcrete can reduce emissions by 50 tonnes.

Solarcentury

Not satisfied with just one or two solar panels on your roof? Well why not cover the whole roof with them courtesy of Solarcentury’s Complete Solar Roof. A typical home with 12 thermal tiles can achieve 60% of its hot water requirements while 2500kWh of electricity per year from 3kWp of C21e electric tiles – together that generates a 1.5 tonnes Carbon emissions saving annually.

Conveniently, any roofer can fit tiles while any plumber can plumber the thermal tiles. Each tile replaces four conventional roof tiles and fixes to standard roofing batons using normal fixing screws.

The technology seamlessly blends in with other conventional roofs in the area and is already laid out across housing developments in Rotherham, Croydon and Reading

Sponsor

Sponsored by Bre

The BRE Group is a world leading research, consultancy, training, testing and certification organisation delivering sustainability and innovation across the built environment and beyond.

The Group’s mission is to ‘Build A Better World’ and our vision is to create an unmistakable imprint on a highly regarded and sustainable built environment. We help our clients create better buildings and communities and solve problems with confidence.

Operating from locations throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland, we have a presence throughout the world.

The Group is owned by the BRE Trust, a registered charity (no. 1092193) with a mission to champion excellence and innovation in the built environment for the benefit of all.