Fit-out industry’s reuse initiative to include lights
The fit-out trade has launched an initiative which will reuse construction products removed from fit-outs, including luminaires.
The industry’s representative body, Finishes and Interiors Sector, or FIS, says its pilot project is designed to reduce the environmental impact of the sector and embodied carbon emissions and waste from strip out projects.
It says its surveys have shown a growing appetite for enabling more reused products into commercial projects.
However, there are a number of practical barriers for reuse. ‘Often, there is little time and space on site to segregate and store products to be picked up by an organisation for reuse.
‘Construction projects are very time dependant and any delays to a project timeline can be very costly. In order for the project team to specify reused products, they need to be confident that the products will be available at the time of installation and that the products meet the right quality requirements.’
The FIS reuse initiative seeks to remove these barriers, by collaborating with others in the industry to create a physical hub to store, process and distribute quality reuse products.
The pilot will take place in London and focus on two products: metal suspended ceiling systems and luminaires used in Cat A and will run for 12 months.
The FIS is currently looking for a project manager – on short-term contract or a secondee – to work alongside its sustainability champion and its CEO to deliver the pilot.
The project also requires a storage facility up to 200m2 of safe and secure storage space for six months, with the ability to grow in the future.
‘I’m really excited about this project,’ FIS chief Iain Mcilwee told the Circular Lighting Report. ‘We talk a lot about circularity, but sometimes I worry the hot air is contributing to climate change! This is a concerted effort to actually do something material, to learn as a collective and start, I hope, to catalyse change.
‘We simply can’t carry on generating waste like we do – urban mining, reuse and circular thinking is essential in this.’
• To more about the project or join the Reuse Initiative Working Group contact flavielowres@thefis.org
• Diary date: Circular Lighting Live 2024, Recolight’s flagship conference and exhibition, takes place on Wednesday 9 October 2024 at the Royal College of Physicians in London. Free to specifiers, Circular Lighting Live 2024 will feature leading experts, specifiers and policy makers who will share their insights into forthcoming standards and legislation, emerging technologies and new business models. More info: www.circularlighting.live
• Picture: Copyright Shutterstock 2023
