Designer's guide to cutting waste from construction projects

Principles of designing out construction waste

Guide

Designing out waste (DoW) requires you to build the principles of using resources efficiently into the design stage of construction projects. The aim is to plan, as far as possible, to use available materials as efficiently as possible in order to minimise the amount used for construction. This helps to reduce the quantity of waste created during the construction process.

The five key principles of DoW are:

  • reuse and recovery of materials
  • off-site construction
  • materials optimisation
  • waste efficient procurement
  • deconstruction and flexibility

Find more detail on the five key principles to designing out waste.

How to design out waste from your construction project

DoW principles can be applied to building or civil engineering projects. This is done most effectively through a structured approach following a three-step DoW process:

  1. Identifying opportunities to reduce materials use or waste in the current design.
  2. Investigating further those opportunities which are easiest to implement or will bring the biggest benefits.
  3. Implementing the best design solutions - the client must sign these off. Addressing waste disposal issues at the design stage can help you to comply with waste regulations and increase your resource efficiency.

For more information, see applying the designing out waste principles to building projects and applying the designing out waste principles to civil engineering projects.

You can download Zero Waste Scotland's guide to Designing Out Construction Waste (PDF, 1.63MB).

You can download the Construction Leadership Council's Routemap for Zero Avoidable Waste in Construction (3.46MB).