University Research
Universities, often in collaboration with other relevant organisations, are actively participating in a number of research programmes and initiatives to potentially improve the construction industry's resource efficiency and waste management options. Within this section, a number of the particularly notable examples of these are outlined.
University of Northampton
The University of Northampton is regarded as a centre of excellence in waste management education and is home to the SITA Centre for Sustainable Wastes Management which was established to encourage and disseminate information on sustainable waste management practices. The university and centre provides a wide range of resources within the waste management field including degree courses and distance learning courses and is an approved trainer by the Chartered Institute of Waste Management. The University also has a Waste Management Library, one of the largest collections in Europe, which is open to visitors.
For more information please see http://wmlibrary.northampton.ac.uk/
University of Durham
The North East Centre for Environmental Science & Industry (NECESI) within the University of Durham is very active in the field of construction and is involved in several projects involving resource efficiency. NECESI is currently piloting construction NVQ courses to provide NVQ Levels 1-4 training for construction site managers. NECESI works in partnership with other organisations, such as the Environment Practice, Constructing Excellence and Envirowise to develop construction related projects.
NECESI have also produced a guidance document for small and medium companies in the aggregates industry entitled Environmental Management Guidance Manual for SME Aggregates Companies. The manual covers a number of environmental topics including waste, water resources, and energy management. Legislation is also covered within the document which can be obtained by contacting the university.
For more information please see http://www.dur.ac.uk/NECESI/index.html
University of Cardiff
The Welsh School of Architecture, a department within the University of Cardiff, in collaboration with the European Cooperation in the field of Scientific and Technical Research (COST) have produced a case study looking at Construction Waste Minimisation in Housing. The document covers waste minimisation at source, encourages best practice and provides a basic outline of the regulatory drivers involved.
For more information please see http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/archi/programmes/cost8/case/waste/constructionwaste.html
The university also set up the Centre for Research in the Build Environment (CRiBE) who carry out a number of construction-resources related projects. A Construction Waste Minimisation Good Practice Guide was commissioned by the Welsh Assembly government as part of their strategy for Sustainable Development in Wales. It focused on the minimisation of construction waste through awareness of environmental issues and best practice in the use of reclaimed or recycled materials.
University of Bolton
In April 2008, the University of Bolton's School of the Built Environment and Engineering announced that it was to investigate the issue of waste and recycling within the Construction Industry. It is hoped that this will be an introductory project that will lead on to a larger programme to investigate both the increased use of recycled materials in the construction industry, and the development of technologies to ensure regulatory quality standards are met.
For more information and to keep up to date with the progress of this project, check the School of the Built Environment and Engineering's website at http://www.bolton.ac.uk/BEE/
University of Bangor
The University of Bangor houses the Bio composites centre. This explores the potential for synthetic products within industry and manufacturing to be replaced with natural alternatives, thus reducing the potential environmental impacts of the materials. Outlined below is a number of the products and services that the centre offers:
- Research and Development
- In-plant trials and sampling
- Resins, Coatings and Plastic alternatives
- Chemicals
- Composites
- Forest Products such as timber additives and resins.
University of Hamburg
Bringing together a number of departments within the university including Building Services Design and Building Materials faculties, the Resource Efficiency in Architecture and Planning (REAP) Group aims to develop research and teaching in the study of resource efficient technology and management in the building and urban technical services sector. The main aim of the group is to combine their understanding of market barriers, new technologies and management strategies, to bring new resource efficient practices to the marketplace.
A list of those individuals involved in the group and some contact details can be found at http://www.reap.hcu-hamburg.de/