Ecological Building

Environmental considerations
Material source


Where does the raw material come from?

How 'sustainable' is it?

Conversion to a useful product


What energy is used in taking the raw material and turning it into a building product?

Are there any environmental costs to by-products from the process?

Transport



How far is the product transported and at what environmental cost?

Answers to these questions can be difficult to find, but manufacturers and trade associations are a good place to start.
Good practice
Good practice can be summarised by the following points:
Reduce



Good design can reduce the quantity of material used by increasing its effectiveness.

Refurbish



Ecological building often concentrates on new buildings. Making good use of existing buildings can make environmental sense, using and enhancing what already exists.

Reuse



Many building materials from demolished buildings can be simply re-used, particularly bricks, stone, steel beams, and timber joists. If you are U.K.-based, you may like to try SalvoMIE where you can buy and sell used, second-hand and un-utilised construction materials over the internet.


Recycle



Other materials can be recycled e.g.broken masonry and concrete can be used as hardcore; building boards and artificial slates can be made from recycled materials.

If you are U.K.-based, try BREMAP which provides details of firms involved in recycling and disposal of construction or demolition waste.

Designing ecologically
We strive to make the best use of our natural resources. Timber is the main renewable material that we can use for building structures. We are involved with projects that make extensive use of timber and engineered timber products such as glulaminated timber beams, plyweb beams and masonite beams. Careful design of timber construction is particularly important to prevent deterioration and decay.