The brief for this private home in south east London was to extend into the loft and to the rear of the house.
Our client was keen to reuse as much of the existing structure as possible and achieve a low carbon design. Our engineers collaborated with Mike Tuck Studio on the design and considered various structural options to meet the client and Architect’s aspirations.
We undertook carbon calculations to demonstrate how much carbon could be saved by installing reclaimed steels vs new steel. Using reclaimed steel produced a SCORS Rating of A++ and saved 23kgCO2e/m2 compared to the new steel option. To give this some context, this saving is the equivalent of a one-way flight from London to New York or a persons consumption of meat, dairy and beer for a year.
We have a good relationship with Cleveland Steel & Tubes Ltd, a steel stockholding, distribution, and processing company, and we worked with them to identify reclaimed steel members that could be used on our site. The reclaimed steels were shotblasted and then spliced together to provide the exact length required for the loft conversion.
This project has reached an exciting milestone in the last couple of weeks – the steels are in! The photographs show the shotblasting process and the spliced steels in position.
Working on projects where the client is driven by environmental factors is incredibly rewarding – it’s something we relish being involved in. If you’re considering reclaimed steel for your next project, or require carbon counting, please get in touch with us – we’d love to hear from you.
