EME Installations Ltd Control Room, Reading

The Control Room project, in Reading, started in November 2010 and completed in May 2011. It was a fit out project to the control room of a concrete frame construction representing a floor area of approximately 1250m2.

Project Information

The project had plenty of scope for waste minimisation techniques to be identified at the pre construction phase of the site waste management plan (SWMP)EME Installations Ltd enlisted the assistance of WPS Ltd, to help them integrate the SWMP into all of their projects.

The Approach taken

Numerous waste minimisation decisions were undertaken successfully during the fit out phase of the SWMP including;

• The reuse of materials where possible by utilising NISP and Recipro, to reduce surplus waste arisings
• Segregation of timber and metal waste on site to reduce waste sent to landfill and minimise the cost of disposal 
• The return of cable drums to suppliers to reduce waste arisings on site 
• Effective dismantling techniques of computers to reduce WEEE waste
• Segregation of removed carpet tiles to allow for full recycling.

Achievements

The targets set in the SWMP were to reduce site waste by 10%, to recycle 80% and to send only 10% to landfill, this target was easily achieved through site practices and the assistance of their waste contractors. The original forecast for waste arisings was 90 tonnes, but less than 21 times that amount was actually produced, which for a project cost of £2,000,000 and the floor area is impressive. An area of particular achievement was in relation to the handling of the waste carpet tiles. From the outset of the project they were set to go to landfill, however through the work of WPS Ltd, a local solution was found that meant 100% of the carpet tiles were recycled with a local manufacturer.

Cost savings

The project was estimated to use 20 skips, but only 5 were needed. As a result of the reduced number of skips required and the segregation that took place; which reduced the cost of waste removal in comparison to the removal of a mixed waste skip going to landfill. The project saved over £3,000; this cost saving equates to 90% of the project’s waste budget.

Lessons Learnt

Segregated waste skips will always be considered for future projects as they reduce the waste disposal costs and only waste contractors will be used with high offsite recycling rates to ensure best practice and reduction of waste to landfill.

Due to the nature of EME Installations’ contracts the segregation and recycling of carpet tiles from refurbishment projects will always be considered where relevant, as it is simple to implement on site and offers benefits for doing so.

EME Installations Ltd plan to develop their own in house forecasting data, assisted by WPS to ensure that the pre construction plan aligns as closely as possible to actual waste
arisings data.

In conclusion

EME Installations Ltd are delighted with the integration of SWMPs onto their sites and will continue to strive to achieve their target of 5% project savings through SWMPs. There are further areas of potential savings they would like to continue to address through the assistance of WPS Ltd.

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