Material reuse is central to circularity in construction, but commercial viability often presents an obstacle.

Commit

Our commitment to Circularity in Practice is the ultimate fit for our ethos: carbon-driven engineering with positive commercial outcomes. Through engaging early with the client, our team could develop their idea into action.

A small project that had a big impact, the Circularity in Practice initiative provided an excellent outlet to showcase how steel reuse can provide commercial positives when engineered correctly.

Navigating Grade-II facades and ambitious sustainability goals, the project engineered the UK’s first ready-for-reuse steel salvage operation. One Golden Lane provided an opportunity to engineer a UK-first and prove steel reuse can dramatically reduce emissions without reducing profit.

Plan

Our Circularity outlook was not to create a new macro system, but enable microsystems that, when added together, create meaningful change. To do so, we worked closely with the team at Castleforge to understand their goals for the retro-scheme.

Planning was meticulous to ensure the grade-listed façade could remain intact and protected while we undertook the steel salvage. With commercial viability as our north star, it was essential that the steel beams salvaged were incorporated into the final design, meaning consultation and collaboration with the structural engineers’ plans was essential to our planning.

Partner

We collaborated with the design team, structural engineers, and the client, to ensure the feasibility and effectiveness of steelwork reuse in carbon footprint reduction. It is an approach that fosters trust and promotes sustainable solutions as a point of galvanisation within the construction industry.

Alongside our client, Castleforge, we sought to understand their circular economy goals and reduce the embodied carbon of their build, before working with our partners at Westok steel to plan and facilitate the steel cutting, transportation, and storage.

Act

The demolition works themselves were complex and needed careful deconstruction to avoid damage of the historic facade. Through collaboration with a clear sustainable goal, 5.5 tonnes of steel was carefully removed and galvanised for reuse in the retro-fit scheme.

Our Construction Engineering Team then developed a sequence to systematically remove the huge steel beams while preserving the structural integrity of the grade-listed structure. The team designed a sequence to salvage the steel beams without the need for smelting before re-use.

Instead, the refabrication process involved ribbon-cutting existing beams to enhance their stiffness, keeping them at the ready for re-use. It is a technique never before employed on reused steel sections.

Through meticulous cut and carve deconstruction, 98% of the building was retained and 25 football pitches of carbon saved – championing circularity principles for London’s historic built environment.

Share

One Golden Lane trailblazed a reuse mindset for the industry at large. It’s a testament to how a circularity mindset can build the future and preserve the past. The scheme has been used as a case study in proving to clients that engineering circular economy principles into designs is a profitable way to redevelop existing sites.

Pledge

Change comes from collective effort across the entire value chain. It means working with clients, local authorities, residents, and suppliers to ingrain reuse and sustainability as the default in the built environment.