The Global Resources Outlook 2024 [1], reported that global resource consumption has tripled in the past 50 years and is expected to double in the next 35 years, and along with it the wider negative environmental impacts. How long can this continue? 

If this trend is to be reversed, the responsible use of resources that have already been mined and are currently in use is critical. By reusing, refurbishing, repairing, and using secondary recycled materials, we keep materials in use for longer, reducing the need for new materials and reducing waste. 

At Max Fordham, our experience shows that it is possible to repair and reuse MEP equipment on mainstream projects, not just for historic conservation reasons, but in everyday practice. 

The Grade II listed Rylands Building in Manchester was completed in 1932 and was most recently home to a Debenhams department store. Its transformation aims, through meticulous restoration, refurbishment, and extension, were to convert it to a net-zero carbon building supporting the Manchester Zero-Carbon Action Plan. On completion, the redesigned ground floor and basement will provide active retail and leisure units, while the upper floors will be repurposed from warehouse space into approximately 46,500m² of Grade A office space. 

The uninsulated fabric has remained virtually untouched since the 1930s. Improved glazing, along with new insulation of the walls and roof, will improve thermal performance, occupant comfort and reduce energy demand. Steel framing in the new extension is designed to enable future adaptation or dismantling, and reuse. 

Previously heated by oil, then gas, the repurposed building will be all-electric, primed to access the decarbonised national grid. Air source heat pumps will provide heating and cooling, with variable air volume control, full heat recovery ventilation, minimising the primary energy used to maintain the building's internal environment. Photovoltaic panels will be installed on the rooftop to produce renewable energy. 

More than 20 tonnes of steel were stripped out for reuse, avoiding 68 tonnes of carbon emissions [2]. Most of the existing structural floors and frames are reused, while the existing façade and other architecturally significant internal features are restored. MEP services are being designed to minimise equipment redundancy throughout replacement or removal by future tenants during their fit-out. 

More than 600 existing LED spotlights were assessed, recovered and sent to EGG Lighting for remanufacturing and are now available to buy with full CE marking, five-year warranty and a digital passport; some have already been installed at the London School of Architecture. This saved 14 tonnes of CO2e and 644kg of electronic waste. 

The team recovered 12.6 tonnes of usable steel components from redundant escalators. These will now be used to repair and maintain existing escalators, saving them from replacement. The reuse of two diesel generators involved cutting open a roof and closing a road to allow them to be craned down seven floors onto a truck for delivery to Carnforth Station Heritage Centre in Lancashire, where they are in use. 

The MEP sector must take an active role in the decarbonisation of the construction sector. Material efficiency and managing fragility in the supply chain should be high on the agenda for the building services sector. For existing buildings, an early design-stage condition survey of existing equipment via installers and mapping items that can be reused or remanufactured is the first step. It will help to build the practical information required at the detailed design stage, overcome the challenges of the availability of existing data, and manage contractors’ risk allowances at the procurement stage. 

Although it’s challenging to deliver, if the industry works together, we can build a genuinely circular construction industry fit for the future.

At Max Fordham, our experience shows that it is possible to repair and reuse MEP equipment on mainstream projects, not just for historic conservation reasons but in everyday practice. We also wrote about this in our recent Beyond Net Zero whitepaper.