Kingspan lighthouse deconstruction - BRE Innovation Park Watford
Zero-waste deconstruction of Kingspan Lighthouse demonstrates a sustainable, low-carbon approach to cradle-to-grave construction
Launched at BRE’s OFFSITE event in 2007, the Kingspan Lighthouse has been a hugely innovative and pioneering building, the first home in the UK to be certified to Level 6 of the Code for Sustainable Homes.
The Lighthouse project enabled Kingspan Potton to develop a robust and reliable approach to the delivery of several hundred new homes across the UK and many lessons were learned during the design, construction and use of the Lighthouse. These were captured and shared with industry and the wider public and private sectors in a series of information papers published by BRE.
"The Lighthouse has been a fantastic project to have on the Park and is testament to the vision and innovative thinking of Kingspan and architects Sheppard Robson. It really set the bar for the housebuilding industry and we learned a tremendous amount from it. The next building to inhabit the plot has a huge legacy to live up to."
Director of the Innovation Park Jaya Skandamoorthy
The building's demolition was likewise an opportunity to demonstrate sustainable approaches.
Kingspan Potton adopted a zero-waste-to-landfill approach to the building's deconstruction, making sure that as much of the building as possible was re-used or recycled and that residual waste was used for energy recovery. The lessons learned from the process will be published by the National Federation of Demolition Contractors as guidance for their contractors around the deconstruction of buildings that use structural insulated panel technology.