Paul Jones, our Apprentice Customer Service Assistant, has been working at BuilderScrap for three months now and so I have asked him to write a blog post about his time here. 

Over the past 3 months I have been working at BuilderScrap and already I have been away to Birmingham for an exhibition, been to several meetings and even experienced an Edmund McGee presentation first hand(!). I think the biggest challenge I have faced since joining the company is attending the exhibition and having to strike up a conversation about our company to strangers.  I feel by the end of the first day I began grasping at the technique and became much less worried about interacting with the public. The people within the company made me feel very relaxed and comfortable so I was never dreading coming to work as they were all very welcoming. I think thanks to their support I have been able to take on most jobs with minimum fuss, but if I ever needed help whilst doing the database or arranging event dates or pretty much anything there is always someone there ready to help out. I have really enjoyed my time here and hope to be working here for a while to come.

Paul is studying for a Level 3 NVQ in Customer Services and has just been successful in the nominations for the Wirral Business Apprentices all Star Awards, which we will be attending in the New Year.

Well, we are back in the BuilderScrap office after a hectic few days at the Interbuild exhibition.  The show went really well, we met loads of interesting people and signed up a massive new 850 BuilderScrap users!  One of the best things about Interbuild is meeting people from all walks of the construction industry, and seeing how BuilderScrap can be o benefit to them.  We met with some major builders and contractors, councils, charities, colleges and self and home builders. 
We were also running a competition to win a weekend for two in the stunning Coach House Hotel in Chester.  The winner will be drawn next week, and announced on this blog, so watch this space if you entered the competition!
Sustainability Street was a major feature of the Interbuild show this year, with full size intelligent home, hotel pod and a classroom!  We at BuilderScrap were delighted to be involved with Sustainability Street through the display of several boards highlighting the process of Buildability - which will be discussed in a later post. 

The BuilderScrap team at Interbuild

Buildability Boards on Sustainability Street

The BuilderScrap team hard at work

Interbuild 2009 is only a few short weeks away!  The construction exhibition is a great chance for us to meet people from all walks of the construction industry; including home builders, builders and contractors, architects, students and self builders, and talk to them about our ideas of reuse and passing on surplus building supplies. 
The BuilderScrap stand will be located in Hall 5, stand nmber E2.  Make sure to come and say hello!  People registering during the show will get the chance to enter a fantastic competition – visit stand E2 to find out more!
Interbuild runs from October 18th – 21st in the Birmingham NEC.

This picture shows our ‘home’ for the five days of InterBuild. We gave ourselves the challenge of building the stand from reused materials and we did it! The carpet tiles were stripped out of an office, the timber was surplus to requirement and we even reused office partitioning for one of the walls!

InterBuild 2008 was a fantastic experience for us. As well as launching the site to the industry, we were able to have a look what others are doing in the industry, particularly concerning the environment.

There were several companies promoting green products and businesses, including:

• Green Estate – green roof specialists who create, supply and maintain vegetation on roofs. The benefits of green roofs are lower energy costs, reduced drainage and water storage requirements and increased property values.
• Mark Group – energy saving products for house builders including air source heat pumps, solar electricity and solar hot water heating.
• Smith Bros Ltd (Enviro materials) – Suppliers of Exwood, an eco-friendly material which looks, feels and has many of the same characteristics of wood.
• Monodraught – Heat-Harvester –By sucking hot air in at ceiling level and blasting it back down to floor level the heat harvester can cut energy and heating bills by 50%! They also have other products such as Cool-Phase the passive cooling system
• Sustainable Homes – training and consultancy for sustainable housing
• Durisol UK – the original stay in place wall form system made from 80% recycled wood
• Elmhurst Energy – a provider of accreditation, training and technical support for the creation and lodgement of Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs)
• Steico – suppliers of environmentally products, including thermal insulation made from hemp and wood
• Continental Underfloor Heating -more environmentally friendly heating products
• KdB Isolation – provides sustainable insulation solutions

All of these products are aimed at helping the industry reduce it’s effect on the environment. I hope you find this information useful, if you have any questions or comments, please let us know.

iT Showcase Magazine is a publication which discusses the role of IT in the construction industry. This is the third year they will be running their annual awards at Interbuild, where they host an entire section dedicated to the subject.

We have been contacted by the magazine and informed that BuilderScrap has been selected to win the new Eco-IT Product award, and will be presented with the award on Wednesday 29th October at the Interbuild exhibition.

This is fantastic news and we are all really excited and pleased. Let’s hope it’s the first of many!

We have just been informed that BuilderScrap has been shortlisted for another award! The Interbuild New and Eco Product Awards are presented on Monday 27th October at the exhibition so keep your fingers crossed!

Michael Ankers, CEO of the Construction Products Association described the awards as ‘one of the highlights of the exhibition. They demonstrate the very best of the UK construction products industry’.

We are really excited about this as it shows us the industry is really looking to share our vision of reducing its environmental impact as a whole. If you haven’t yet registered for Interbuild, there is still time.

Come and visit us at stand 05-F146 and wish us luck!

Interbuild is less than three weeks away and the preparations are getting underway here at BuilderScrap HQ. Our mission to build a 100% recycled exhibition stand is proving to be both exciting and challenging.

We are keeping our eyes peeled for any useful stock on the website, and are hopeful that the finished article will be exactly what we are after.

The idea is to show visitors to our stand just what can be achieved by using BuilderScrap.com, that reused goods don’t necessarily look naff or poor quality and that huge savings can be made with an open mind. We have so far found uses for carpet tiles, plywood, drainpipes and office partitioning!

If you haven’t registered for Interbuild yet, it’s not too late, just go to www.interbuild.com

Follow this link and you can save £20! Register for free in advance by following this link:

Why should I bother?

Ok, so we all know that we need to start changing our attitude towards the environment, and are constantly being bombarded with words like ‘eco-friendly’ and ‘global warming’. You don’t have to be a sandal wearing, tree hugging eco-warrior to care about green issues. In fact, a 2007 survey commissioned by Hyder Consulting shows that 86% of people in the UK worry about the environment.

DEFRA figures show that the construction industry is responsible for 20% of UK waste, the equivalent of 90 million tonnes. BuilderScrap aims to reduce this by encouraging a culture of reuse and of diverting tonnage form landfill.

As well as the warm, fuzzy feeling you get from helping protect our little island from turning into a huge landfill site, there are several benefits using this system can have to your business.

Skips cost a fortune, and the bad news is they are going up! Landfill tax is increasing every year, and when you consider the cost of the labour to fill them, and the cost of goods being thrown away, you might as well start lighting cigars with wads of fifties. Ok, maybe that’s an exaggeration but you get the jist!

Even if you don’t charge for the items you upload to the site, you are saving costs. If you do make some money off the goods, it’s a bonus for you and goes straight on the bottom line.

One of the big benefits to an organisation improving its environmental performance is the associated improvement in company perception. Clients are becoming increasingly concerned with the green credentials of their suppliers, and are often requesting to see environmental policies along with Health and Safety and Quality Assurance documents.

How does it Work?

Once you have registered on the site, you can upload items via MMS from your mobile, email or through the website. It’s dead easy and the best news is – its free! The only charge is for sending an MMS. Items go live within a few minutes, and people can then contact you directly if they are interested in your products.

Is it really free?

Yep! It certainly is. The only cost is for sending an MMS message, if you use this. It doesn’t cost a penny to upload by email or online.

Sounds fantastic! When can I start saving money and the planet?!

We are currently testing the site with some local, friendly companies who are helping us make sure it is perfect for when we launch. We are hoping to launch a pilot scheme in the North West in September, and launch to the industry whole later in the year.

How Can I Find Out More?

Email your contact details to support@builderscrap.comand we will contact you with further information, or visit us at Interbuild this October at stand 05-F146.