Lean Construction

Adoption of lean construction such as using thinner internal walls and floor slabs and reducing foundation size could minimise the amount of raw material being used and thus reduce the amount of waste.

Balance Cut and Fill

For foundation works and earth projects, design for reusing excavated spoils as back-fill material to balance cut and fill could reduce the generation of excavated spoils. If cut and fill could not be balanced on-site, possible exchange with other sites should be sought. Such matching of surplus excavated material and deficit of fill material can be assisted by the information provided by Fill Management Division of the Civil Engineering and Development Department

Modular Building Designs and Precasting of Building Components

Modular building designs and standardized cell layout enhance precasting of building components such as facades, staircases and semi-precast floor slabs. Off-site prefabrication can reduce cut-off wastage and the use of moulds on-site. Besides, factory controlled processes are more reliable, and can use more sophisticated techniques and fittings of which the net amount of materials employed can be reduced.

Designs for Long-Life, Reuse and Recycle

Construction designs should be flexible to include opportunities for future adaptation of buildings. Reuse of construction waste such as bricks and tiles, use of recycled materials in new construction such as recycled aggregates and asphalt, and use of pulverized fuel ash and durable and recyclable materials such as metals instead of timber should also be encouraged.

Selective Demolition

Building demolition should be designed to maximise recovery of reusable and recyclable materials. As such, hand demolition and dismantling should be considered prior to demolition using point breaker, bulldozer, crane ball and chain, and explosives, which are more relevant to recycling than reuse. Besides, salvageable materials such as metals, timber, bricks and tiles should be removed from the buildings before demolition, while selective sequential demolition should be adopted to remove one type of material at one time to avoid mixing.