Designing out waste with WRAP

Working in conjunction with WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme) the Government body tasked with creating a strategy for waste reduction in the UK, Buro Happold was commissioned to review and rewrite the 'Designing out Waste' guide for buildings. This is the principal guide for design teams to follow in order to reduce site construction waste and make their designs more resource efficient.

WRAP asked us to use our sector knowledge and contacts with engineering and architectural designers to carry out a thorough review of the existing guide. Looking for direct input from our design colleagues we created a technical guide designed to be more engaging, easier to understand and that enables adoption by construction clients, architects, engineers, design teams and contractors.

The construction industry is the UK’s largest consumer of natural resources. The industry is also responsible for generating around one third of all waste in the UK.  Design teams play a key role in reducing waste through influencing the design process. Undoubtedly the best opportunities to reduce construction waste occur during the earliest of design stages. However, in practice few design teams capitalise on these opportunities.

We carried out a number of design team feedback sessions across the UK from our network of offices. Mini workshops were held with our own engineers and designers from other practices. All those attending are active in the design of small and large scale projects. We wanted the guide to be read and used by designers as opposed to it being an instruction manual. It was extremely important to understand what elements enable designers to use the guide and implement its core principles. This feedback allowed us to suggest a format for the document that would make it easier to use in having more concise content, better layout with more pictorial elements plus a quick reference guide and waste management toolkits.

There are financial benefits to reducing waste and through these design measures the construction industry is in a position to decrease its dependency on landfill sites, to take steps to mitigate climate change and to increase efficient use of resources. Real social change can be encouraged through exemplar design, making our homes, workplaces, schools, hospitals, the way we travel and how we socialise more efficient.

• Collaboration with WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme)
• Designers played an active role in designing out waste from construction project
• Greater focus on resource efficiency at design stages
• Production of revised guidance in new format with detailed content that encourages application of key principles