If I was to tell you all that the past couple of weeks had been a successful time for BuilderScrap, I would be making the under statement of the year. The awards have been flowing towards us recently and we are happy to reap the benefits.

A couple of weeks back, BuilderScrap were Highly Commended in the Supply Partner category of the Construction News Awards.  We were described as inspirational and innovative, and it was agreed the industry needs to utilize services like this. Then a couple of my colleagues attended the Green Apple Award where they were presented with the prestigious Gold Award.

Just last week we had another cause for celebration.  On Thursday 8 July we were finalists at the Merseyside Innovation Awards and were awarded £1,000 which we were delighted to receive.

The prizes did not stop then, the next night more than 350 key figures from commerce and industry came together to celebrate the achievement of companies at the 2010 Wirral Investment Network Awards ceremony.  11 awards were presented to companies from all sectors and were very happy to be presented with the Environment Award, managing to see off the tough competition from B&M Waste and Technical Demolition Services.

It is a very successful time for BuilderScrap and we couldn’t have done it without our loyal users, so we’d like to thank you all for your support.

Les Owens, Managing Director of BuilderScrap and a committee representative for the Merseyside Innovation Awards speak on BBC Merseyside.

BuilderScrap are a finalist for the prestigious award.

Click the link below to listen to the interview which was on BBC Merseyside this morning.

http://www.merseysideinnovationawards.co.uk/

North West based building materials reuse web site BuilderScrap scooped the Carbon Reduction award at last week’s annual North West Construction Awards ceremony in Southport.

BuilderScrap is revolutionising the way the construction industry treats surplus building materials by providing them with a free platform to advertise any excess or waste materials that can be reused in other building projects. The ever increasing costs associated with the disposal of surplus building materials prompted the creation of BuilderScrap and the site has been commended by many official trade bodies for the positive impact it is having on the environment.

This latest award is further evidence of the importance the construction industry is placing on resources that are there to assist the industry in meeting tough targets laid down by the Government and WRAP for preserving materials and the beneficial impact this policy has on the environment.

Speaking after collecting the award, Les Owens, MD of BuilderScrap commented that ‘this is an award that recognises the incredibly hard work the whole team has put in making the site what it is today. I hope that the industry will continue to make BuilderScrap a key part of their ongoing strategy to help combat waste and alleviate the pressure put on what little landfill capacity we have left in the UK’

BuilderScrap MD Les Owens (right centre) and Brendon Kenny (left centre) attended North West Construction Awards

Last week BuilderScrap celebrated it’s first official birthday!  And what a year it has been.  This post looks at some of our highlights of last year.

I asked a few members of the BuilderScrap team to give me a paragraph each about their highlights from our first year.

Mike Close

 Mike Close, Project Manager, wrote ‘Having only joined 3 months ago, it has been an exciting time to join the team, there is so much going on and it is obvious how far BuilderScrap has come even over the last few months, yet alone the year as a whole. It has been a quick learning process and I now feel very much part of the team that is ready to take BuilderScrap to the next level. My high points without doubt have been spreading the message at the various road shows and trade shows; Eco build was a particular favourite. I look forward to continuing to help to develop and drive things forward over the coming year, there are some fantastic opportunities both in the UK and overseas, just not enough time in the day.’

Paul Jones

Paul Jones, our Digital Marketing Assistant, ‘I’ve been working for BuilderScrap for roughly 7 months, it has been quite an experience, and some of my highlights of the past few months have been the trips to Birmingham and London. I also enjoyed watching the user numbers consistently grow thanks to the work of our marketing team and the early mornings at Huws Gray.  Looking back on my time here I have enjoyed working with everyone especially the users who continue to support us.’

Dannii Owens

Dannii Owens, Marketing Assistant says ‘Having worked for BuilderScrap before graduating last year I was really excited to be offered a position as Marketing Assistant.  Ten months later and I have experienced a great year with the company, particularly enjoying the opportunity to meet and speak to new people through user surveys, trade shows and our road show!  I know from personal experience that people asking to do a short survey can be time consuming and rather annoying but all of our users so far have been talkative, helpful and friendly.  I was also one of the lucky team members who got to attend EcoBuild this year, another brilliant experience with a variety of people to speak to and lots of interesting companies displaying their businesses.  The road show at Huws Gray yards was also great fun, who wouldn’t enjoy free sausage and egg butties three times a week?’

As for me, the highlights have been growing our small team of me, the MD and a couple of consultants to include Dannii, Paul, Mike, and the six new staff who have joined us this week from the future jobs fund.  It’s also been great to receive recognition for what we are doing, through winning and being shortlisted for several prestigious awards, including the Green Apple Award, Construction News Quality Awards, Rushlight Awards and Wirral Investment Network Awards.  It has also been great to see our memberships rise dramatically, which they contimue to do!

Bugs and Insects at the Tam O’ Shanter Urban Farm on Bidston Hill, Wirral are currently enjoying a new bug and insect hotel. The hotel, made by volunteers incorporates some materials which have been sourced and acquired through the BuilderScrap website and demonstrates a more unusual method of reusing materials.

The hotel has been specially designed to create additional habitat for a number of bugs and insects including both solitary bees and bumblebees which are both declining in numbers. Loss of habitat and pesticide damage have placed a number of bee species under threat in many developed countries, in fact three species of Bumblebee have already become extinct with another 8 considered to be in serious decline.

We hope the new hotel will provide a fantastic new habitat to benefit the local bug and insect populations.

At BuilderScrap we are constantly looking for new solutions such as this to utilise surplus materials from the construction industry, instead of seeing these added to the increasing amounts been sent to landfill each year. We would love to hear from anyone who has found new and interesting ways to benefit from reusing materials (particularly if you have used BuilderScrap).

If you are interested in using BuilderScrap on your own project or have any case studies for reuse please contact us either by email info@builderscrap.com or call 0844 225 3000.

So which is the most eco friendly pet to keep and which pets should come with an environmental hazard warning? I am looking at which pets are more environmentally friendly than others as well as investigating whether green options exist for pet owners.

As you might expect keeping a pet horse or cow is a little more carbon intensive than sharing your home with a hamster or a gerbil. Indeed keeping a hamster or gerbil is probably about as eco-friendly as a pet can be; they eat little; they are low maintenance and generally seem happiest exploring their cage for the zillionth time. Unfortunately other animals are far more environmentally damaging; horses take up too much space, dogs and cats consume large quantities of meat, and more unusual pets such as snakes, exotic fish and budgeries are often illegally trapped, removed from their natural habitats and transported long distances. Not environmentally sound.

Now I can take some moral high ground here, I am not a pet owner since my two gerbils departed earlier this year. To be honest I am generally not a fan of having pets in my home; don’t get me wrong I like animals but having them dependent on me… perhaps not. The gerbils were great though, minimal effort and great entertainment, usually much better than the slim offerings served up by my television.

In the UK by far the most popular pets are the dog (estimated at 31% of UK households) and the cat (26% of UK households) (BBC News 06/02/2010). According to Brenda Vale’s recent book “Time to Eat the Dog” keeping a cat was equivalent to driving a Volkswagen Golf 6000 miles a year, whilst the family dog could be even worse – similar to running a couple of gas guzzling 4×4’s (The Times Online 06/04/2010). I suspect that this statistic probably varies between a Chihuahua and a Great Dane however.

So how can the environmentally aware pet owner ensure that their favourite pet is not an ecological drain and what can they do about it? Most owners probably won’t consider eating said pet but they might want to try creating an environmentally friendly diet.  Many of the large pet food companies are now tapping into the ecological guilt of pet owners and are producing sustainable pet foods, so owners can be safe in the knowledge that their furry friend is not causing excessive damage to the natural world. Also on the market are eco friendly dog beds, pet septic tanks and durable toys.

I guess the current environmental awareness asks us to review every aspect of life to see where we can improve our environmental performance. I don’t suppose that anyone would realistically ask someone to give up their pet for the sake of reducing their carbon footprint, after all there are much worse things we can do for the environment. It does seem that it is now an option that pet owners can now choose from an increasing amount of greener options when it comes to buying pet supplies. This does of course open up another whole can of worms regarding the validity of eco branding but that can wait for another time.

To keep up to date with all my latest blogs and news follow me on twitter.

 FREE BACON BUTTIES FOR NEW USERS!!!

The first BuilderScrap Road Show has now started!  Over the month of March, we will be visiting Builders Merchants in the North West region to promote the benefits of reuse to new and existing BuilderScrap members.

The road shows are being run in partnership with Huws Gray, the successful Wales and North West Builders Merchants.

The first event was held this morning at Huws Gray Ellesmere Port, and we are pleased to have signed up many new members.

Anyone interested in lowering their costs and doing their bit for the environment, is invited to join us at any of the below events for a free bacon sandwich*, a cup of tea and a chat!  Just call in any time between 8am and 12 noon.

Friday 5th March 2010 Huws Gray Heswall

Monday 8th March 2010 Huws Gray Aintree

Wednesday 10th March 2010 Huws Gray Burscough

Friday 12th March 2010 Huws Gray Moreton

Monday 15th March 2010 Huws Gray Wallasey

Wednesday 17th March 2010 Huws Gray Heswall

Friday 19th March 2010 Huws Gray Ellesmere Port

Monday 29th March 2010 Huws Gray Aintree

Wednesday 31st March 2010 Huws Gray Flint

Thursday 1st April 2010 Huws Gray Wrexham

For details of any locations, please visit www.huwsgray.co.uk or call us on 0844 2253000

Here are some pictures from our first (rather chilly) day:

The BuilderScrap Team ready to sign up new users

BuilderScrap's Dannii sampling the free bacon sandwiches!

 * terms apply

See you at the next event!

On Tuesday I visited the Hargould Eco Showcase at Old Trafford Stadium to view a series of seminars about environment and sustainability in construction. It was a great opportunity to get an overview of the construction industry and try to gage the environmental feelings within the sector.

Arriving slightly late, after my sat-nav decided to stop giving me directions as soon as the stadium came into sight forcing me to spend the next twenty minutes negotiating myself down a series of side streets around the stadium. Finally I managed to locate where I was supposed to go, park up, register, collect my free cup of tea, say a quick hello to Eddie on the BuilderScrap stand and sit down in time for the first of the three seminars (resource efficiency in construction).

All three seminars followed a similar structure looking firstly at the issue, then the solution and finally the best practice. I was delighted that within the first seminar tackling resource consumption, BuilderScrap got a mention when discussing the practice of re-use and its growing importance to the industry, particularly pleasing with Eddie conveniently poised around the corner waiting for the seminar audience to filter past him ready to explain more about BuilderScrap.

Without going into too much detail about each seminar, the key points of the first seminar were to outline just how much perfectly good materials are being sent to landfill under the false pretence of being waste. Stats were provided demonstrating for example that 13 million tonnes of raw materials go to landfill which have never been used. It went on to explain how much money could potentially be saved each year with improved site management and planning to reduce and reuse as much as possible.

The second seminar discussed carbon management in construction, outlining the need to make carbon reductions in the industry through the use of good design, correct materials, best practice construction and also considering the long term operation of the building, will it be a big emitter of greenhouse gases (the period between construction and demolition). This was discussed with particular reference to BREEAM quality projects.

The final seminar looked into sustainable procurement in construction, this being the information about the products themselves. Where they are from? What they are made of? How have they been transported? And how they will be disposed of? It seems crazy to think that raw materials could be mined/farmed in one country, transported to be manufactured in the next, transported again to another country to be sold, and then end up never being used and ending on a landfill site after all that energy has been expended.

My main thoughts from the seminars were that whilst government in the UK is launching so many initiatives such as act on CO2 and halving waste to landfill, there needs to be more explanation why? It is not right to leave the construction sector feeling as if it is been persecuted by a series of laws without explanation,  why shouldn’t they carry on the way they have been, after all, many companies/individuals will have operated the same way for decades. If the time was taken to issue the relevant information in the industry it could show that sustainability is not that hard to build in to existing policy and with companies like BuilderScrap providing a platform to make it even easier to implement best practice then it can surprise how easy and cost effective a change in attitude can prove.

There is a need for constant reminders from the top down; you are not always going to get through to people first time, the saying is old habits are hard to break and teaching people to act differently can be tough. Having said that I think there is a willingness to change in the construction industry, maybe with les focus on the environment but certainly to save money and also to ensure that they are meeting their client’s expectations, ultimately if the client wants sustainable construction methods, the sector will move to accommodate, those that don’t will be left behind.

Overall I thought the seminars were excellent and would urge anyone within the industry to make an effort to attend in future, the presentations were very easy to follow and appealed to a wide audience. It did not try to be overambitious, there was an appreciation that you are not going to turn the construction industry into a band of eco-warriors overnight, it had a strong emphasis on monetary savings and client expectations, with the environmental message as an underlying theme throughout.

BuilderScrap recently beat internationally renowned entrants to win The Rushlight Award for Waste Management.
The Rushlight Awards celebrate the leading energy, resource and environmental technologies of Britain and Ireland, and were held this year at the Grand Connaught Rooms in London on Thursday 28th January.

The awards were presented to businesses that excelled in the environmental and clean technology fields. BuilderScrap won the award for waste management, which was accepted by Eddie McGee, Les Owens and Brendon Kenny (Pictured).

BuilderScrap is an innovative new business, which aims to lower the amount of constructions waste being sent unnecessarily to landfill. Using web 2.0 technology, member of this free service are able to ‘post’ details of their surplus materials to the web. Other member can then enquire about these products.

As well as member of the construction industry, other sectors using the website include charities, schools and community groups.

The not for profit business benefits not only the environment through less waste going to landfill and fewer carbon emulsions to ‘remake’ new material, but also the person passing on material through lower disposal cost and the receiver of goals through lost cost free product procurement.

As well as the prestigious Rushlight Award, BuilderScrap has been short listed in the Sustain Magazine Awards, to be presented in early March, and BuilderScrap Apprentice Paul Jones has been nominated for an All Stars Award, to be presented on Friday 5th February.

Managing Director, Les Owens, said ‘I am extremely proud of everyone involved in the project. Since launching less than 16 months ago, we have seen a great take up and this is growing on a daily basis. We have also had a lot of interest from abroad, and I have been invited to present the product to the Massachusetts Department of Environment Protection in March.’

BuilderScrap.com is completely free to use, and is supported by BRE, O2, Salford University and the Centre for Construction Innovation.

From everyone in the BuilderScrap office, we would like to wish our members and readers a very happy new year!  2010 has gotten off to an exciting and busy start already for us!  There is so much happening this year, here is just a taster of things to come! 

 Ecobuild 2010 – BuilderScrap will once again be exhibiting at Ecobuild.  Make sure to visit us on stand 448, as well as catching our seminar – details TBC!

Carbon Calculator – In conjunction with the Centre for Construction Innovation and Salford University, BuilderScrap is currently developing a carbon calculator to measure the amount of carbon our members are saving by using BuilderScrap to pass on their surplus building materials.  Launching Spring 2010 – watch this space!

The BuilderScrap Roadshow – The first BuilderScrap roadshow is scheduled for the North West Region in early Spring.  We are currently still in the planning stage, but details will be coming soon!  The Roadshows will give members and non members alike the opportunity to learn more about BuilderScrap and the concept of Reuse in the construction industry.

Continued Partnerships – Through 2010 and beyond, we plan to continue and grow our partnerships with influential and relevant organisations.  O2 are offering our members an exclusive promotion, and we are also working together with WRAP, BRE and Envirolink on a number of projects, to name but a few!

Team Expansion- We are delighted to be welcoming a new member of the BuilderScrap team in February, Mike Close.  Keep an eye out for his environmental blog posts!

This is just a taster of what’s coming up.  If you have any ideas or suggestions for BuilderScrap, please let us know!