Sustainability

How we are building a more sustainable future.

We love New Zealand. We love the forests, the beaches, the rivers and the lakes. We take our responsibility to look after the environment seriously.

At Brant – Design and Build we are committed to promoting sustainability in the way we design and build – even if it takes extra effort and money – but we think it is worth it. Our activities on site are designed to promote good sustainability practice, to reduce the environmental impacts of all our activities and to help our clients and supply partners to do the same.

Did you know that construction and demolition waste makes up 40 to 50 percent of New Zealand’s total waste going to landfill, according to government and council documents. Each home constructed generates an average of four tonnes of waste. An Auckland study found that construction waste by weight is made up of timber (20%), plasterboard (13%), packaging (5%), metal (5%) and other (45%).

Most of this dumping of construction waste is unnecessary. It has been demonstrated that simply by sorting waste, at least half of it could be diverted from landfills and cleanfills. Large volumes of waste also increase the costs of a project and its environmental impact.

Our objective is to tie sustainability in with what we consider to be good business practice and apply the “three Rs rule” in all our projects: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.

Reduce

Reducing waste means preventing waste from being created in the first place. Examples may include making sure that quantities are accurately calculated to avoid on-site wastage and asking suppliers to limit the use of packaging.

Reuse

Reusing means dealing with the excess materials usually sent to landfill. This may include returning excess stock to our suppliers or collaborating with various recycling partners who can find another use for the materials.

Recycle

Recycling waste involves working with our local recycling waste partners to responsibly recycle all building waste. The aim is to reduce to an absolute minimum the amount of waste that ends up in a landfill.

In 2020/2021 our sustainability goals are:

  • Work with Green Gorilla to implement a strict waste management plan for our construction waste.
  • Nominate a sustainability manager, at each site, to uphold the waste management plan and identify waste for recycling and reuse.
  • Collect data to identify materials in waste bins and revise practices to recycle wherever possible.
  • Set challenging environmental targets to boost sustainability efforts.
  • Work with our architects and designers to identify opportunities to reduce construction wastage.

By March 2021 we aim to achieve the following:

Reduce plastic and cardboard packaging on site by 20%

Reduce gib off cuts by 12%

Reduce timber off cuts by 10%

We believe transparency is the best way to show our commitment in promoting sustainability. So, we will be reporting on our environmental performances for all future projects. Check our performance on our website or social media platforms to see how we are doing.