Tired Old Offices Can Be Recycled Too
WiredOne Broadgate, in London’s financial district, was a classic 1980s-style office block, with an exterior facade made up of panels of reflective, dark-tinted glass and strips of obsidian black and burnt terracotta. Recycling steel “is going around the houses, but it’s more sustainable than digging raw material out of the ground,” explains Tom Webster, a director at building services engineering design practice Webb Yates Engineers. “We’re accustomed to repurposing existing buildings, but with a building made from scratch the mentality is that everything must be brand-new,” says Clive Nichol, Fabrix’s CEO. “There’s a tunnel vision toward mining fresh materials.” For every metric ton of steel manufactured in an oxygen furnace, which is the more traditional method, 2,710 kilos of carbon is released into the atmosphere, according to Webster’s calculations—the same output as a one-way flight from London to Sydney.
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