Olympic development beats green targets

Over 95% of the 10,827 tonnes in demolition waste will be either reused or recycled, with most (9,823 tonnes) destined to be re-used on site and 638 tonnes recycled or reclaimed offsite.

The Olympic Park has been designed to incorporate reused materials, with 9741 tonnes of crushed brick and concrete, 10 tonnes of reclaimed bricks and 2 tonnes of roofing tiles all set to go into its construction.

Olympic Delivery Authority chief executive David Higgins said: “We want London 2012 to be the greenest Games in modern times and have set ourselves tough targets to recycle or reuse materials wherever possible.

“These figures show we are not only meeting our commitments, we are beating them. They also show that we are firmly on track to have most of the site cleared and cleaned by Beijing 2008.

“We are setting new standards in sustainable construction and our contractors deserve credit for meeting the challenge.”

Materials reclaimed or recycled offsite include timber turned into chipboard, plasterboard turned into gypsum and steel. The non-recyclable 5% includes 161 tonnes of asbestos, sent to landfill.

The next part of the demolition phase of Olympic regeneration is set to begin in July, when the ODA finally gains possession of the whole site.

Goska Romanowicz