Ged Finch
Developing affordable circular economy solutions for the construction industry.
There is an urgent need for the building industry to address end-of-life material management in New Zealand. The most effective way to do this is to ensure that buildings are designed in a way that facilitates material recovery. The current widespread use of adhesive-based fixings and single-life materials are a consequence of economic drivers and has led to unprecedented levels of waste creation.
The research looks at how to design building systems to facilitate material reuse and/or high-value recycling in an economically successful manner at the end of the structures useful life. The study is ‘design-led’ in the sense that the research is about designing, through iterative tests (and based on a wide range of precedents), building systems that will enable circularity in mainstream construction.
Supervisors
Antony Pelosi, Morten Gjerde, and Guy Marriage.
Awards
Sustainable Business Network Awards 2020: Going Circular Winner
COINS Grand Challenge: Open Category Finalist
KiwiNet Emerging Innovator 2019
BEST Awards 2019: Gold Pin in the Student Category
NZ Wood Design Awards 2018: High Commended in the open Wood and Fibre Creativity category
RIBA President's Awards for Research 2018: Shortlisted in the Design and Technical Category
Press
Stuff: Young entrepreneur's sustainable wall system provides a house that keeps on giving
TedxWellington: Why we need to rethink how we build homes
Stuff: Completely recycling and re-using housing - one student's "blue-sky" design project gaining traction
RNZ: Designing waste-free buildings
KiwiNet: X-Frame for waste free buildings gets commercialisation boost
ArchDaily: Fastmount Standard Range Clips in X-Frame Project
Build Magazine: X-Frame and the circular economy