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 and Morten Gjerde and Guy Marriage.