FROM NZCB —
Ian Chamberlain NZCB Board Vice Chairperson
Supporting sustainability in the building industry Discovering new opportunities and ways we can develop our industry, while helping our customers, has always been important to me. Since lockdown, I have found more of my clients showing an interest in products supplied and made in New Zealand, which is great. However, these quality items can come at an additional cost, which may be prohibitive to the customer, which is not so great. It’s a work in progress. I try to be mindful and make sure I recommend, where possible, building materials that are sustainable and have a good environmental lifecycle. In the next couple of years, we are going to see more changes regarding the sustainability of our industry. As you may have seen in the last issue of InHouse (page 20), MBIE is looking to reduce emissions in our industry by improving the operational efficiency of buildings. They are aiming to do this by gradually reducing the amount of energy and water buildings use and improving ventilation and comfort. Reducing the building industry’s carbon footprint is also being addressed. As an industry, we should be helping lead this by making recommendations to our clients. Some of our builders are already doing this, but more of us need to join and support them. The more builders who commit to sustainable practices, the more common practice it becomes in the industry, making it better for everyone – including future generations. This is our chance to get on board and help develop and shape these changes.
To help get the message across, I’ve been handing back packaging my company can’t recycle to the suppliers, so they can pass this back to the original manufacturer. More people are choosing to involve their builder from the start of their house or renovation design. This is an opportunity for us to talk to them, and their architect or designer, about sustainable options, such as considering room sizes to suit sheet material size as a way of reducing waste. This can help reduce the cost of the build, too. Plus, discussing better quality insulation and windows to improve the building envelope performance and address internal ventilation would go a long way towards creating healthier homes. If the building code were ‘up-specced’ around the above, it would benefit everyone and help reduce the costs of these items.
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For example, double glazing used to be twice the cost of single glazing – but now they’re similarly priced. Another area where we can have a positive effect is with our suppliers. Even small changes add up. Recently, I have been encouraging my suppliers and merchants to make sure the packaging around their products can be recycled. To help get the message across, I’ve been handing back packaging my company can’t recycle to the suppliers, so they can pass this back to the original manufacturer. I have also started sourcing from other suppliers whose packaging is recyclable. Some councils have come up with great initiatives, including running builders’ recycling days and recycling gypsum boards to use as fertiliser. I was recently sent an article written by a 12-year-old boy about just how much waste is produced in the building industry. He found that up to 40-50% of New Zealand’s total waste going to landfills was made up of construction and demolition waste! As part of the survey (www.level.org.nz), he asked builders for their ideas for minimising the amount of timber ending up in landfills. Some of the suggestions include: • Donating to community groups (untreated timber) • Reusing it for bracing, shutter pegs, joinery, and general packers • Burning it to generate electricity • Repurposing it into a flooring or chipboard product • Using it as fuel for pellet fires • Having an offcut bin on-site for people to access • Using a skip with dividers for different materials • To reduce offcuts, designing the build to use multiples of whole standard lengths of timber and planning the use of each length of timber to get the maximum usable lengths • Correct storage on-site to prevent waste due to exposure to rain • Allowing for more usage of untreated timber where appropriate • Looking at packaging waste as part of the problem. Hopefully, there might be something in the list above that you could look to implement. If we all do a little bit in our own area, it will contribute to positive change within our industry, which benefits everyone in the long run.
