BAM opens Circular Building at London Design Festival

‘The temporary pavilion is constructed and furnished using products that demonstrate how users can reuse and repurpose items’, says Nitesh Magdani, Director of Sustainability at BAM. ‘We hope to inspire companies and individuals to adopt a more flexible approach to spaces, which allows them to easily adapt areas to meet future requirements, and without generating waste.’

BAM’s supply chain has been responsible for providing many of the items on show in the pavilion, some of which have been chosen to demonstrate the cradle-to-cradle ethos behind the Circular Building. For example, visitors will be able to see:

• Autex – an acoustic fabric that also provides the wall structure and finish. Unlike traditional products, Autex is detachable, enabling people to easily change the look and feel of their space and quickly access services behind the fabric. Made from recycled bottles, it is also insulating and can be used as a pin board.
• Desso – loose lay floor tiles, which have been designed and manufactured using the circular ethos.
• Buzzi Space furniture – which features detachable upholstery and recyclable foam fillings and frames.
• Orange Box’s first European accredited cradle-to-cradle task chair, which has components that can be easily replaced, repaired or upcycled.
• A green wall made of demountable troughs that can be easily detached when plants need to be watered or replaced.
• Sustainable timber joists/battens – widely used in the pavilion, Travis Perkins is evaluating how best to recover used materials and maintain value for future uses or resale.  

The interior also has a number of unique design features including a perforated straw board wall. Dowling has been inserted into the holes to provide a hangar for coats or utensils to demonstrate how spaces can easily be adapted to meet present and future requirements.

An integrated BAM approach

The project has brought together skills and expertise from across BAM (Construction, Design and Energy) including specialists from our architecture, interiors and sustainability teams. BAM Plant has also been involved in making things happen on site at short notice and keeping the building construction on track. BAM Energy have initiated a product offering whereby Photovoltaic (PV) panels on the pavilion’s roof provide a renewable source of energy and demonstrate how greener power can be linked to Lighting Performance contracts. This model is intended to provide clients with greater operational benefits and lower capital costs.

Circular contracts for clients

As a market leader in the circular economy, BAM is always working to create new approaches that will enable our clients to reduce waste. In addition to the Circular Building project, we are currently procuring circular contracts where suppliers will take back materials, products and systems at the end of their initial use. Our approach ensures building owners and occupiers benefit from higher residual values, by selecting the right materials and working with our designers and suppliers to design with reuse in mind from the outset.

‘The introduction of circular contracts will transform the way the industry views product procurement and make certain that buildings and assets achieve the optimum levels of performance across their lifecycle’, states Nitesh Magdani.

Contributions and thanks

BAM would like to thank its suppliers and partners who have collaborated to make this Circular Building possible, including: Arup, Frener & Reifer, 8Point3, Power One Group, Panasonic, Brogans, Guardior, Speedy Hire, David Watson, Desso, Naughtone, Buzzi Space, Orangebox, Autex, Travis Perkins, Plant Designs, The C2C Products Institute, Accoya.

For further information, please visit the Building Centre.