Glass Forever – Principle Demolition: Sustainability First Ethos
Principle Demolition undertakes a wide range of soft strip and structural alteration contracts, consistently delivering high-quality and efficient services. Committed to expanding its glass recycling capabilities, Principle Demolition collaborated with the Glass Forever team at Saint-Gobain Glass to collect waste glass material from 40 Grosvenor Place, London.
Constructed between the mid to late nineties, Grosvenor Place is a six-storey building featuring a communal central atrium with o ces on other levels. Principle Demolition’s project involved the soft strip and salvage of approximately 14,000m2 of office and retail areas back to the shell over five floors, while the ground and first floors remained fully occupied and operational with existing tenants.
Sustainability first ethos
Principle Demolition operates with a sustainability-first ethos, and Glass Forever demonstrated an efficient and effective glass collection methodology. Under the Glass Forever programme, it was calculated that for every tonne of recycled cullet collected from a site, 1.2 tonnes of virgin raw materials would be saved. This approach has significant long-term benefits for conserving natural resources, making Glass Forever’s circular economy principles a sensible standard practice.
Principle Demolition swiftly integrated the Glass Forever programme into its operations. Within 48 hours of the initial site visit, they began collecting the first load of cullet using roll-on, roll-off (RoRo) skips. This efficient recovery method allowed the entire collection process to be completed in just three weeks.
A highly motivated team
Richard Calcutt, Technical Project Manager at Saint-Gobain Glass, commented on the success: “The Principle Demolition team approached this project with high levels of motivation. They were well into their deconstruction work when we joined, and they employed clever collection and segregation methods. They understood the importance of preventing cullet contamination and effectively transported it off-site. In just three weeks, we recovered 41.9 tonnes of glass from the site, saving 50.3 tonnes of virgin raw materials and 29.3 tonnes of CO2. A fantastic result.”
“With sustainability and the circular economy foremost in our approach to carrying out and completing the numerous soft strip and structural alteration jobs we do; working with Saint Gobain Glass enhanced our ability to achieve the highest possible recycle rates for this project. Glass, among the various waste streams of materials and products we handle, can now be recycled for as long as possible, thanks to collaborations like this.” Rob Unwin, Contracts Manager at Principle Demolition Ltd.
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