Rethink and reuse before rebuilding, says sustainable construction expert

The construction industry needs to rethink its approach to reusing and recycling buildings if it is to be seen as truly sustainable, according to a leading expert.

David Cheshire, sustainability director for AECOM, told a recent webinar from property, construction and infrastructure consultancy Perfect Circle that reusing materials from demolition simply isn’t enough to offset the environmental and financial impact of acquiring them in the first instance.

Cheshire says: “At the moment, we as an industry dig, mine and process hundreds of millions of tonnes of raw materials that we essentially steal from the planet. There is a focus generally on reducing things like operational energy use, but around half of all greenhouse gas emissions come from mining and processing resources.