Case study: Edinburgh International Conference Centre Expansion and Speculative Office Space

Resource efficiency pursued through design coordination and waste management

Key facts
Extensive use of building information modelling (BIM) to reduce material requirements and waste arisings, resulting in an estimated cost saving of 227,600 (0.28% of project value). It was estimated that 1,935 tonnes of inert, mixed and gypsum waste was avoided. Over 105,000 tonnes of non-contaminated excavation waste was sent to the Western Harbour site for re-use as fill, with an estimated landfill tax cost saving of over 262,500 (0.30% of project value). Between the start of the project (July 2010) and April 2012, over 84% of construction waste and 100% of noncontaminated excavation waste was diverted from landfill.

Figure 1 Edinburgh International Conference Centre expansion and speculative office, Artistic Impression

Due for completion in Spring 2013, the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC) is being extended to provide office and additional function space (Figure 1). Employers requirements issued for the project set detailed requirements for the recovery of any construction and strip-out waste created. Motivated by these requirements, the high design variability and being a signatory to the UK Halving Waste to Landfill Commitment, principal contractor Sir Robert McAlpine engaged in an extensive design rationalisation and coordination exercise. Waste management procedures were also carefully considered to respond to the constrained site. The Halving Waste to Landfill Commitment for construction waste was managed by the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) and delivered in Scotland by WRAPs Scottish programme, Zero Waste Scotland.

Case study Resource efficiency pursued through design coordination and waste management

The 80m EICC expansion and speculative office is under way to provide an additional 1600m2 multi-purpose hall together with breakout areas, meeting and ancillary spaces and catering facilities. The multi-purpose hall will have a bespoke moving floor system that will allow the hall to be configured for exhibition, banqueting and arena setups. The extension consists of three main elements, as follows: An office building 18,100m2 of speculative new office accommodation over seven storeys above ground level, with a full-height central atrium and retail space on the ground floor. An atrium building a four-storey extension abutting the east side of the EICC, providing a new entrance and circulation space, a caf on the first floor and speculative office space on the two upper floors. EICC additional function space 2,500m2 of function space below ground level, incorporating the multi-purpose hall and the meeting spaces. The new buildings will consist of steel framing and the external cladding will consist of curtain walling, natural stone and composite panels to match the existing and surrounding architecture. Extensive excavation under Morrison Street was required to provide the lower ground levels. The project commenced in July 2010 and is due for completion in Spring 2013. The Employers Requirements set requirements for construction and strip-out waste and recycled content based on WRAPs good practice procurement model wording document.1 The key points outlined in this document are as follows: Recover a minimum of 70% of construction materials, and aim to exceed 80%. Recover at least 80% of strip-out materials. The minimum amount of recycled content for the project should be 10%.

Figure 2 EICC groundworks Demonstrate targets by using WRAPs Net Waste Tool to forecast waste and quantify the re-used and recycled content. Designing out waste Sir Robert McAlpine realised that the highly complex design would introduce an element of risk to the construction programme and project costs, and therefore could compromise resource efficiency. The solution was to focus on design coordination and rationalisation to reduce project risk and ensure that the project would meet the build programme. A BIM model of the building (including the structure and some dry-lining) took over a year to build and provided the basis for the approach to design coordination. The model was primarily used to coordinate the mechanical and electrical services distribution, but it also provided information useful for rationalising several structural and internal design elements. All five principles of designing out waste as defined by WRAP (listed below) were considered, including several solutions that were implemented by Sir Robert McAlpine at the detailed design stage. WRAPs Designing out Waste Tool for Buildings was used to estimate a total of 227,600 in savings resulting from reduced material requirements and reduced wastage rates. Design for re-use and recovery Re-use of excavation waste the EICC extension involved significant excavation works to accommodate the floors below ground level (Figure 2). Sir Robert McAlpine

Case study Resource efficiency pursued through design coordination and waste management

Prefabrication of the mechanical flooring system a specialist contractor was appointed to build the moving floor for the multi-purpose hall. 3D modelling was used to understand how the floor would move, enabling the contractor to construct the floor off site and quickly assemble the parts on site. This benefited the construction programme and ensured that no mistakes were made on site that would create waste or impact on the the build programme. Design for material optimisation Coordination of service distribution BIM was used to coordinate the installation of mechanical and electrical services in the building. This allowed the team to make small changes to the specification of ducts, beams and ceiling void heights to remove barriers to the installation of services. This ensured that no costly, time-consuming or wasteful alterations would need to be made on site. The 2D drawings from the model were given to subcontractors to use as the basis for fabrication drawings. The coordination of services and the moving floor were estimated to have saved 50,000 in labour, materials and waste disposal costs. Redesign of roof structure the original roof gantry design was reviewed and altered to create a more efficient structural design, using less steel and ensuring that no alterations would be needed on site. The initial design included a track system around the perimeter of the building. Using a 3D model, Sir Robert McAlpine worked with a specialist to reduce the extent of the track system and change its location, taking advantage of the cantilevered gantry arm to reduce the loads passing back into the main structural frame. Details were then developed to prefabricate the components to reduce the work and timescales needed for site installation. It was estimated that the redesign saved 20,000 in materials and waste disposal costs. Replanning of ceilings significant replanning of the ceilings was undertaken to coordinate ceiling configurations with the structural steel frame and the services passing through the ceiling voids. Using a 3D model, the ceiling margins, grid points, light fittings and ventilation systems were fully coordinated, ensuring that works on site were efficient and

Figure 3 speculative office space, curtain walling system installed by crane wanted to avoid sending excavation waste to landfill and identified the opportunity to use the excavation waste as fill at another Sir Robert McAlpine project, its nearby Western Harbour site. The waste contractor appointed to remove the excavation waste arranged transport and the necessary exemptions. This saved an estimated 262,500 (2.50 per tonne saving on landfill tax costs). The material also saved 13 per tonne on fill materials at Western Harbour (a potential overall saving of 1.62m), although it is difficult to estimate how much new material was replaced as Sir Robert McAlpine would normally attempt to source re-used fill material. Design for offsite construction Unitised curtain walling system (Figure 3) the original design included a conventional stick build curtain walling system involving the construction of an aluminium frame on site, to which the glass would then be attached. Sir Robert McAlpine changed the specification to a unitised system of prefabricated panels that were constructed off site and simply lifted into place. This approach improved installation time and reduced both the wastage associated with on site assembly of smaller parts and the quantity of packaging required to transport the curtain walling. The savings in installation time could not be quantified but are thought to be significant.

Case study Resource efficiency pursued through design coordination and waste management

(2,000mm in height) were specified so that whole boards could be used. This principle was also applied to other walls for which the heights are typically between 2,500mm and 3,000mm. For these locations longer sheet sizes (3,000mm) were specified. Design for flexibility Mechanical flooring system the incorporation of a moving floor within the design (Figure 4) will allow the EICC to make best use of the space as their needs change. The floor reduced the need for additional space within the design, and will remove the need to refurbish the room in future to cater for changing needs. The floor is 50m long 30m wide and has the ability to be configured into seven different arrangements. Without using the moving floor system the facility would require a minimum of three separate halls and temporary staging and seating. Including the additional storage areas that would be necessary, this would result in approximately 4,000m2 of additional floor area. Subcontractor tender requirements Sir Robert McAlpine has a policy of setting out clear waste management expectations to its subcontractors. Sir Robert McAlpine provides a document at the tender stage called the Tender Enquiry Document, Project environmental, sustainability and waste management requirements. The document states several requirements, including waste forecasting, waste segregation and disposal, against which subcontractors are asked to indicate whether their expectations can be met and are held contractually accountable. The subcontractor shall: identify the total proportion of recycled material in each of the construction products it will be using; meet the requirement of the Site Waste Management Plan (SWMP) including predicting waste, recording actual waste movements and aiming for best practice methods at all stages; correctly segregate all waste into the containers provided. Subcontractors identified to be contaminating the segregated containers will be advised of this and contra-charged accordingly;

Figure 4 Mechanical Floor during construction dry lining waste was significantly reduced. The material requirements for the ceilings were reduced by 8,000. Simplification of external envelope the insulation of the external envelope was rationalised, and resulted in a saving of more than 2,000m2 of insulation. The thermal efficiency of the building envelope had been designed to meet building regulations and BREEAM requirements. Sir Robert McAlpine reviewed the insulation requirements in the context of other envelope performance requirements including acoustics, structural loads and air leakage. It found that inherent thermal properties were achieved by meeting these other requirements, and the original insulation specification could be rationalised by reducing the extent of insulation required in some areas of the building and the thickness of insulation required. The reduction in insulation requirements saved 130,000. Design for waste-efficient procurement Planning plasterboard sizes Sir Robert McAlpines project manager worked with subcontractors to plan plasterboard sizes. Large sheets were specified to reduce cutting and fixing time on site. Standard plasterboard sheets are 1,200mm 2,400mm. The project includes a large number of areas where the walls are 4,000mm high and standard sheets would give rise to relatively high wastage rates. For these areas smaller sheet sizes

Case study Resource efficiency pursued through design coordination and waste management

To reduce packaging waste, Sir Robert McAlpine set out expectations in an advice sheet, EICC Extension Project waste requirements reducing packaging waste. This document sets out how subcontractors and suppliers will help Sir Robert McAlpine meet waste generation and recovery targets at EICC. Suppliers must advise how they will assist by: using less packaging; grouping bulk items into single larger packages; Figure 5 Cable reels being returned to supplier predict the volume of each waste stream it is likely to produce and how it proposes to recover/dispose of each waste stream to meet this target; and use the waste hierarchy when determining waste options. Disposal in a general waste skip should be considered the last resort only if there are no other viable reduce, re-use or recycle options. Sir Robert McAlpines environmental engineer completes weekly checks to ensure that the subcontractor is meeting the Environmental Method Statement requirements. Subcontractors that fail to properly clean up their waste are issued with a clean-up notice, which gives the subcontractor 48 hours to comply or else be charged for the principal contractors labour and disposal costs. Non-conformance reports are raised against subcontractors for any consistent failings to meet the required standard. Sir Robert McAlpine prefers to use encouragement where possible, through good environmental scores on subcontractors monthly key performance indicator reports and issuing letters of recognition of good practice. Site waste management The constrained nature of the site meant that wastage would be expensive and timeconsuming to segregate and store on site; therefore, waste prevention was a priority. Design rationalisation and coordination provided an important solution to preventing waste being generated in the first place, and thereby reduced the quantities to be managed on the site. providing re-usable packaging for repeat deliveries; providing packaging take-back schemes; or using a single packing material to enable easier segregation on site. Take-back schemes have been arranged with suppliers of large cable reels and pallets (Figure 5). The approach to on site waste management was carefully considered to ensure that on site segregation could take place despite the constraints of the site. Space was found to keep segregated skips on site and smallwheeled skips were kept on each floor of the build, allowing workers to keep a skip near their work area. The wheeled skips are filled with segregated wastes and emptied several times a day. First, they are moved onto a loading platform (Figure 6) and then they are lowered to the ground by a tower crane. This approach reduces the distance that workers

Figure 6 loading platform used for waste movements

Case study Resource efficiency pursued through design coordination and waste management
Table 1 Forecast and actual waste generated on site (excluding strip-out waste) Construction waste (tonnes) July 2010 to March 2012 Sir Robert McAlpine forecast Net Waste Tool baseline practice Net Waste Tool good practice Actual practice
a

Excavation waste (tonnes) Whole project 38,496a 126,484 Diversion from landfill 100% 80% 80% 100%

Diversion from landfill 83% 70% 80% 84%

321 1,132 530 299

Owing to unforeseen ground conditions the volume of excavation waste was much higher than forecasted.

must travel to dispose of waste, increasing efficiency and making waste segregation activities more visible to site managers and foremen. Project performance Construction and excavation waste forecasts were included in the project SWMP (Table 1). The Sir Robert McAlpine waste forecast was based on subcontractors forecasts and previous experience and the waste savings expected from the design rationalisation exercise. A snap shot forecast for the period July 2010 (project start) to March 2012 was also produced using the Net Waste Tool so that a comparison with actual practice could be made for this case study during a select time period. Actual wastage generated up to March 2012 (299 tonnes) was slightly lower than the forecast for the same period (321 tonnes). The Net Waste Tool results were calculated based on typical industry baseline and good practice wastage rates. The analysis did not take into account the design rationalisation and coordination exercise undertaken by Sir

Robert McAlpine. As such, the waste forecast produced by the Net Waste Tool was higher (1,132 tonnes at baseline practice and 530 tonnes at good practice). Between July 2010 and March 2012 the superstructure of the extension was completed and the internal fit-out began. The low volume of construction waste produced on site suggests that the design rationalisation and coordination of the superstructure elements (including the external envelope, roof structure and curtain walling) reduced the wastage inherent in the design. It also suggests that the requirements placed on suppliers and subcontractors have helped to reduce wastage. This project demonstrates that design rationalisation and coordination at the detailed design stage can reduce the inherent wastage of complex designs. The use of BIM can enable principal contractors to reduce wastage, save money on material requirements and wasted materials and meet challenging build programmes.
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www.wrap.org.uk/procurement

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