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Oktra teams up with Material Index to turn sea of waste into new materials
Rod Sweet Global Construction Review
The Material Index AI-enabled audit tool allows the quick, photo-led capture of materials so users can assess them before deconstruction. Image: Material Index
Office design-and-build company Oktra has teamed up with circular economy platform Material Index to reuse materials from refurbishments rather than send them to landfill.
Oktra will start by using the platform on its own HQ refurb.
Construction produces more than 60% of all UK waste and accounts for 12-14% of global CO2 emissions, but only 1% of building components are currently reused.
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Last year alone, around £60bn worth of reclaimable building assets in the UK and US were thrown away, the partners said.
Oktra will catalogue materials removed in its refurb jobs and list them on Material Index’s marketplace of more than 300 trade partners. Materials will include carpet and ceiling tiles, desks, chairs, appliances and flooring – all often still in good condition.
And when it needs new materials for projects, Oktra will source them through the marketplace.
Material Index has already audited some 10,000 sq m of floor space on six of Oktra’s sites in two months, identifying more than 3,000 tonnes of material available for reuse, with an associated carbon saving of 1,000 tonnes.
‘Good doesn’t need to mean new’
Oktra said the move chimes with building accreditation schemes like BREEAM, the UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard, and SKA, a RICS environmental assessment method, benchmark and standard for non-domestic fit-outs.
These schemes push the design-and-build industry to account for what happens to materials long after a project completes, not just how the finished space performs.
“A well-designed office doesn’t need to mean brand new,” said Jamie Firman, head of sustainability at Oktra.
“As companies look for their office to say something authentic about their values, being able to point to considered, second-life materials adds a genuine layer to that story. Every move or refurbishment is an opportunity to unlock value from existing assets that might otherwise be waste, and reclaimed materials are often more cost-effective and quicker to source than new, adding welcome security to a volatile supply chain.”
An emerging business model?
Material Index managing director Rob Smith said his organisation – a team of architects, engineers and software developers – had been working with Oktra for over a year and has run several workshops with the Oktra team.
He said the partnership will bring consistency and structure to the two organisations, allowing Oktra to do site audits themselves using Material Index’s AI-enabled audit tool.
“Hopefully, with top-tier contractors like Oktra leading the way on reducing waste, others will follow,” Smith said.
The audit tool can be used to produce BREEAM-compliant pre-demolition and pre-refurbishment audits, as well as materials passports.
The platform’s trade partners include manufacturers and resellers who collect, sort, store and recertify used materials. In using the platform, contractors can benefit from reduced waste costs and extra revenue.
Material Index can be appointed on a project-by-project basis or through a license for more regular users.
