Brookfield Properties and Oxford Investa Property Partners (OIPP) have set a new benchmark for sustainability in Australia, pioneering the recycling of office workstations at its $200 million 388 George Street redevelopment in Sydney’s CBD.
The unique recovery was the culmination of a three-year grant issued by the City of Sydney to Edge Environment to uncover recycling options for melamine coated particle board, a material often found in office fit-outs and currently un-recyclable across much of Australia.
Through this innovative study coordinated by Edge Environment and with the co-operation of key partners including Profile of Design, City Move and DTL Timbers, Oxford Investa Property Partners, and Brookfield Properties, approximately 19 tonnes of discarded desktops were processed into new, useable product.
Combining the innovative recycling initiative and the re-homing of furniture, the refurbishment in its entirety saw some 93 tonnes of furniture recovered – the weight of approximately nine school buses – as well as 75 tonnes of glass, 112 tonnes of carpet and 200 tonnes of metals. The combined total of recovered materials almost equates to the weight of an Airbus A380 aircraft.
Danny De Sousa, National Sustainability Manager at Brookfield Properties, said sustainability has been a core focus at 388 George Street, and they are thrilled to have discovered meaningful sustainability initiatives that provide tangible and measurable benefits.
“Our incredible sustainability team has ultimately paved the way for more responsible waste management in the future,” Mr De Sousa said.
“We’ve finally found a solution to a common and persistent problem in redevelopment and commercial office fit-out and we are proud to further reduce our impact on the environment while elevating the standard for green practices in Australia.”
Blake Lindley, Associate Consultant Edge Environment added: “Reusing commercial office furniture such as desks and cabinets is our best option when it comes to sustainability, however through this successful trial we are seeing real progress on a problematic and persistent waste stream for industry”.
“This project stands on the shoulders of five years’ work by the Better Buildings Partnership (BBP) and we continue to work across industry to make sure the success of this project becomes the norm, not the exception.”
The innovative process involved the initial removal of hardware or fixings left in the furniture such as screws and brackets, then cutting the furniture into uniform panels, sanding both sides of the recovered panel followed by gluing the panels together to create a ‘master panel’.
The master panel was then ripped and grooved turning it into a usable bearer. Usually destined for landfill, these bearers can be reused multiple times and sustain many cycles of this process.
Strip-out waste was first acknowledged by the BBP in 2014 as an under-explored, under-reported and poorly understood waste product from commercial buildings.
Seminal work delivered by the Institute of Sustainable Futures developed some key statistics that shed light on the extent of this problem, revealing that 61 tonnes of waste material is generated for every 1,000 square metres of office space refurbished, with an average recycling rate of just 21 per cent.
BBP established strip-out waste as one of its seven key projects in commercial office sustainability, its works culminating in the 2018 strip-out waste guidelines documenting new industry best practice in delivering office refurbishment.
Edge Environment contributed to developing these guidelines via funding from the NSW EPA’s Circulate program.
Xavier Terrell of DTL Timbers said the project saw a cost-effective recycling method of materials.
“The 388 George Street materials have now been reprocessed for second life of material including bearers for under packaging instead of adding to the significant landfill burden,” Mr Terrell shared.
Prominently located on the corner of George and King Streets, 388 George Street is jointly owned by Brookfield Property Partners and Oxford Properties, as owner of the OIPP portfolio, with the construction works undertaken by Multiplex.
The project is due for completion in 2021 and will deliver 38,364 square metres of A-Grade commercial office space and 2,680 square metres of prime retail space to the CBD core.