The Project That Changed The Way I Design Forever

12 months ago, I was in the final stages of delivering a workplace fit out for a 4000m2 office refurbishment in Brisbane with COMUNiTI. We had been working on the workplace strategy and redesign of the spaces for more than a year.

Throughout the design process, we had looked at how we could minimize demolition, reuse existing ceilings, lighting and furniture where possible and therefore minimize the environmental impact while delivering the greatest transformation within the client’s budget. For the client this was a highly successful project. For me it raised a fundamental problem with the way the design industry in general, and myself as a designer, approached refurbishment projects.

Six weeks before demolition I realised the problem. During concept design I had inventoried all the existing furniture within both floors of the building. Through design development I had looked at what furniture we could reuse in its current form and what we could refurbish. What I had never thought to consider is, what happens to everything else?

I was able to connect with Circonomy, a Brisbane based social enterprise who rehome and resell furniture. For this project it was too late. We had a set demolition date and there was simply no time to arrange the logistics to remove and resell two floors of furniture in less than six weeks. As result, hundreds of pieces of good quality furniture ended up in landfill and I asked myself, how can I stop this from happening on another project I work on?

This is what led me to open RENEW DESIGN and join the other social enterprises who were already working to address the issue of construction and demolition waste. Through this journey I have connected with fantastic people who share my mission to create a world without waste. Yas Grigaliunas Ryan Swenson Jess Peet and Tina Timonen for Circonomy. Gordon Bateup from GreenChair?, Justin Hatchett from Green Furniture Hub , Rob Amorosi from Customex Consulting (Australia) Pty. Ltd. , Green Collect and ReLove

Every year Australia generates 30,000 tonnes of commercial furniture waste and 95% of this ends up in landfill. Many of these pieces are still in perfect working condition and the client is paying thousands of dollars to replace them with new pieces. It is an environmental problem, and the solution has a great financial and social impact. So why are we as designers still sending used office furniture to landfill?

The answer to this problem isn’t simple and it isn’t easy, but it is exciting because the impact of creating a solution is huge. The solution is rethinking our design process. Considering how we can reduce waste right from initial concept design. Looking at what can we reuse, what can we refurbish and who can we connect with who can find a second life for everything else? And finally, for everything that cannot be reused, how can it best be recycled.

We as designers have the ability to connect these organisations with the client and project team from the start of the design process. This facilitates sharing of project timeframes and allows time for logistics to be arranged prior to demolition. The result…. we can work together to save the thousands of tonnes of quality furniture that end up in landfill each year and instead and connect it with the people who need it.

Photo Credit : Green Furniture Hub and Westpac