Sanctuary Magazine Case Study: Bardon

The Sustainable home at Bardon featured in an edition of the Sanctuary Magazine. It focuses on how a huge 98% of the original home was reused and recycled.

Text Translation

“Use mechanical connections such as nails and screws rather than glues; it makes components easier to separate and reduces their contamination for recycling.”

CASE STUDY 2

When faced with the task of redeveloping a Brisbane house block with a post-war brick home, Sustainable Pty Ltd. applied its usual aim of recycling 100 per cent of the materials.

It achieved 98 per cnet, not quite reaching the target because of asbestos in the roof, walls and carport. 

The company’s high standards, at virtually no extra cost, ser a new benchmark for the rest of the industry. 

“It costs about $8000 to get in a bulldozer and take all the rubble to the tip, says manager Tobias Volbert. 

“Our method costs about double [that] but we recoup most of that from the salvaged material.”

The company has offered a deconstruction service for years, taking materials away to be cleaned, stored, then reused in landscaping or building projects. 

“We use the timber for raised garden beds, trellises, timber backdrops, pool pump covers — anywhere it will be a bit hidden or needs to fit in with the natural environment. Bricks have less value but can be used [whole] in paths or crushed as backfill for retaining walls, and we reuse a lot of iron roofing too.”

“There are opportunities for landfill companies to make a massive industry out of it,” Volbert says. “But it’s hard changing the mindset.”

This project is outlined in a case study by Anders Feldback Kristensen: wwwsustainablebuildings.com.au.

Ninety-eight per cent of the original home on this block in Bardon, QLD, was recycled. Of this, 10 per cent was reused in the new build in landscape structures, screening and aggregate materials. Photos by Sustainable Pty Ltd.

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