A recently opened award winning £5.5million office building, which uses high levels of recycled structural material, could become the template for other commercial projects.

The Innovate Office at Thorpe Park in Leeds includes recycled mobile phone panels from Smile Plastics, 100% recycled aggregates and 65% to 80% recycled cement replacement, and was designed by Rio Architects and environmental engineers King Shaw Associates. It achieved the highest ever Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) rating in March 2007.

During the build contractor GMI Construction Group reduced construction waste using site waste management plans to achieve an estimated 80% reduction in skip waste.

The University of Leeds will conduct a post-occupancy evaluation study to measure the building’s performance against its environmental design targets. This will allow the developer Innovate Property to use the most successful aspects of the scheme in future projects.

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