SECTOR INSIGHT
Sustainability
What do I need to be aware of and what more can the ironmongery industry do ?
» DOUGLAS MASTERSON , TECHNICAL Manager at The Guild of Architectural Ironmongers ( GAI ), explores the issues impacting the ironmongery industry from a sustainability perspective .
Current industry impacts
One measure of where the industry is at with sustainability can be seen with what we are seeing in the GAI Specification Awards entries , where we have introduced sustainability as a new criteria for judging . On our shortlisted entries we have seen substantive evidence of the impact this is having on both new products being placed on the market , as well as the supply of ironmongery material to construction projects . We have been pleased to see factors detailed such as : local sourcing to reduce carbon footprint of supply ; products entered which were manufactured in factories run from 100 % renewable supplied energy ; products being made from predominantly recyclable material such as cast aluminium , steel and zinc ; use of Environmental Product Declarations ( EPDs ) and the supply of product with fully recyclable packaging .
New industry initiatives
Some of our members are looking at taking sustainability a step further through new initiatives such as take back schemes or more sustainable finishes . One example of this is d line Rehandle ( one of the products shortlisted in the GAI RIBA Specification Awards .) This is where original products are taken back and refurbished . This initiative is stated to help reduce the carbon footprint between 54- 91 %, depending on the product . Another GAI member , FSB , has developed a new finish for aluminium entitled Aluminium
Pure . Thanks to the naturalness of the largely untreated surface , Aluminium Pure , when compared to an anodised surface , consumes 37 % less energy during production .
What more can we do as an industry on a daily basis ?
Whilst budget is always a factor in specification , it is essential that we as an industry look to offer longer term solutions in our schedules rather than products which will inevitably need to be replaced over a short period of time .
We are currently preparing a CPD Core presentation entitled : “ Ironmongery and sustainability which will be written by industry experts . This CPD will look at sustainability issues which are relevant to the Architectural Ironmongery industry . It will cover topics such as Net Zero , Environmental Product Declarations ( EPDs ), Life Cycle Assessments and environmental standards such as ISO 14001 .
GAI has now set up a new sustainability working party to look at what we as an industry can do . As part of this we will be creating a new suite of sustainability briefings throughout 2024 on topics such as Environmental Product Directives ( EPDs ) and relevant industry standards . These will complement our existing “ Ironmongery and the Environment ” RIBA approved CPD , as well as the accompanying GAI Specifiers Guide .
Impact of regulations
The process to push embodied carbon further up the UK government agenda has already been set in motion by leading figures in our industry who have called on the government to implement Part Z into Buildings Regulations 2010 . If enacted , Part Z would ensure that embodied carbon is assessed on all projects , as part of a comprehensive whole life carbon assessment . Although not yet mandatory , it is gaining industry support and the Department for Levelling Up , Housing and Communities ( DLUHC ) has nowagreed to consult on its strategy for embodied carbon regulation and has commissioned further industry research on the topic . The results of these are expected later this year .
The revised European Construction Products Regulation ( CPR ) is due to be published late 2024 , this will make an impact on construction products in terms of sustainability . According to the proposed Regulation , the manufacturers will have to deliver environmental information about the life-cycle of their products . Moreover , they will have to comply with several obligations , including :
• Design and manufacture a product and their packaging in such a way that their overall environmental sustainability reaches the state of the art level ;
• Give preference to recyclable materials and materials gained from recycling ;
• Respect the minimum recycled content obligations and other limit values regarding aspects of environmental sustainability ;
• Make available , in product databases , instructions for use and repair of the products ;
• Design products in such a way that reuse , remanufacturing and recycling are facilitated .
www . gai . org . uk
44
APRIL 2024
locksmithjournal . co . uk Issue Takeover