BioRegional, the social entrepreneurs behind BedZED and One Planet Living (including OneBrighton), have been one of the most active in initiatives to get Building Material Reuse Centre’s established.

Their collaboration with Arc-Croydon conducted a nine month research programme called Re:BUILD, attempting to set up a building material reuse centre in Croydon. A Case Study can be downloaded here.

BioRegional also produced an earlier Reclaimed Building Products Report downloadable here 

An investigation into the viability of Building Materials Reuse Centres – MSC by Andrew Edwards, Oxford Brookes University 2011 here.

The Atmos Project is Transition Town Totnes, (Transition Town Central – UK department) flagship project, an old Dairy Crest factory which TTT are working on turning into a ground-breaking eco-hub, including local businesses, affordable housing, a food entrepreneurs school, and a Building Materials Reuse Centre.

The Atmos Project’s BMRC is to be a centre for local materials reuse, as part of a broader aim to localise building materials in Totnes. A 2012 TTT commissioned report argues the potential for at least 80% of building materials coming from within fifteen miles of Totnes. Can Totnes Build Itself: Potential local building materials and their availability

Stone, earth for cob, green timber, sheep wool and straw bales, can all be found from within the five miles of Totnes. If the Cornish Peninsula is included these local natural materials can be expanded to include more highly processed natural materials and a wider palette, including recycled cellulose insulation and processed sheeps wool. Only steel and imported softwood would need to come from further afield.

Seattle, Oregons’ Rebuilding Center, the largest by volume used materials centre in North America, is nearly 20 years old. The Centre contains a veritable treasure trove of all and every kind of used materials needed to build a home, from door-knobs to baths to the full scale steel joists.

Dedicated teams of Deconstructionists head out daily to dismantle, collect and retrieve materials from the city and it’s surroundings. Known as the DeConstruction Services these trained specialists dismantle anything from “a kitchen, to a full house, to a 100 year old grain mill.” Working by hand, this demolition by other means results in up to 85% of materials being reused.

Here’s one of the founders telling Rebuilding Center’s story.

The ReBuilding Center also includes the ReFind furniture workshop, which produce bespoke furniture and designs, including this recent local Portland yoga studio reception desk.

The ReBuilding Center’s Centre is designed by Communitecture.

In Britain Reuse It Yourself  has been set up as a platform for developing a nationwide network of building material reuse centres, aiming to emulate Habitat for Humanity’s ReStores network. Based on the principles of the National Wood Recycling Centres and Furniture reuse projects, ReIY centres act as hubs to co-locate different enterprises and include training. These are social enterprises, which collect excess construction materials and sell them on.

ReIY note that Building Material Reuse Centre’s need space to work. A site of 10-20,000 sqft is needed to do a BMRC justice, smaller sites will only allow a limited product range to be undertaken.

The network of centres has been around longer and are more widespread and developed in North America than in Europe. The mainstreaming of the centres was started by Habitat for Humanity  the US building NGO charity, with their independently owned ReStores, not for profit home improvement stores and donation centres, across North America. There are now 700 plus across the continent.