It is usual to pay a contractor to demolish a building and clear a site, ready for a new development. But is this approach outdated?
What if all or some of the the materials comprising the building were not owned by the landowner, and were actually leased. As part of the lease arrangement, the take-back of the materials could be included in the structure of the deal.
Or if a building was fully owned, could the market recognise the value of that material such that a contractor pays for the privilege to carry out the demolition, effectively mining the material to sell it back to a second-hand market.
Our perception of what we now call waste is changing and so are the pressures to reduce our impact on the environment.
Clients are asking for more and more sustainable solutions to their requirements. This is driving the suppliers and manufacturers to explore new ways of producing their goods, with more recycled content. The days are numbered for suppliers whose products are made entirely from new materials. They want the most recycled content and want to know the journey and provenance of the materials that found their way into what they are purchasing.
When second-hand markets become fully established demolition contractors and many other similar companies in other sectors will have completely changed their outlook on waste. In the new era, it is possible these companies will pay to demolish a building or dig up a road as they or their supply chain needs the materials to feed back into a sustainable manufacturing process.