This case study describes the work done to reduce waste of construction materials and to divert any waste generated away from landfill.- Published by WRAP March 2011

1. Case study
Lend Lease
In 2008 Lend Lease’s Project Management and Construction business (then known as Bovis Lend
Lease) set an objective to halve the amount of waste it sent to landfill by 2012 and signed up to the
Halving Waste to Landfill Commitment. Since then, Lend Lease has been working to reduce waste to
landfill and continually improve waste management. As part of this, the business has embarked upon
a major awareness-raising programme to engage employees and contractors to help meet waste
targets.
Company Profile
Lend Lease’s Project Management and Construction
business operates in more than 30 countries
worldwide and employs more than 7,500 people.
In the UK, the business employs more than 1,800
people and has an annual turnover in the region of
£1.3 billion. Lend Lease’s project management &
construction business provides services across the
commercial, retail, defence, technology, education
Regents Place Atrium. Courtesy of Lend Lease, 2011. and healthcare sectors.
‘Good resource management is a vital
part of sustainability for Lend Lease. This case study is one of a series that
With the help and support of our examines how companies are
project teams and supply chain, we implementing the key steps of the
have diverted 88% of our waste from Halving Waste to Landfill Commitment
landfill in 2010’ and to formalise their waste reduction
and resource efficiency objectives.
Nick Clarke, Senior Sustainability manager
Key Accomplishments and Savings Halving Waste to Landfill
• 88% diversion of waste from landfill As a leading project management and construction
across 98 projects with an approximate company with a strong sustainability track record,
turnover of £1bn in 2010 Lend Lease has a commitment to reducing waste.
• 70% reduction in waste sent to landfill in One of the earliest signatories to the Halving Waste
2010 from the 2007 baseline to Landfill Commitment, it has rolled out an extensive
• In the final 3 months of 2010 the waste reduction programme across the organisation.
reduction in construction waste sent to
landfill against the 2007 baseline stood at
80%
• Identified significant savings in waste
removal costs if future waste targets are
met.

2. To back up its halving waste to landfill target, Lend Embedding targets within corporate
Lease’s Project Management & Construction business policy and processes
has committed to:
Set a target for reducing waste to landfill (W2L); A corporate waste strategy ensures that Lend Lease
Embed that target within corporate policies and waste targets are embedded in its project delivery.
processes;
Set corresponding requirements in project
procurement documents and engaging with the
supply chain;
Measure performance at a project level relative
to a corporate baseline; and
Report annually on overall corporate
performance.
Waste reduction targets
MediaCity UK. Courtesy of Lend Lease, 2011.
Lend Lease’s Project Management & Construction The corporate waste strategy sets out a plan of
business initially set out to meet its own company action for achieving demanding waste targets
target of reducing construction waste to landfill by 70 outlined above. It has a strong focus on raising
per cent, they used this target as a platform to awareness of targets and setting clear responsibilities
implement changes in the way they approached for delivery. A series of training workshops were
resource efficiency and waste management they also rolled out across the company introducing the waste
improved their data collection. strategy and targets, halving waste to landfill and the
tools and resources available to ensure project teams
Lend Lease now aims to reduce the amount of waste
are aware of the requirements and embed them
produced on projects and set more meaningful
within their working practices.
targets to reduce the waste to landfill based on
tonnes of waste generated and tonnes of waste sent
A series of standard operating procedures, which set
to landfill per £100k construction spend.
the framework for materials and waste management
Using the good practice methods identified in this and waste reduction, has been developed. These
case study, Lend Lease’s Project Management & apply to all projects, forming part of the key project
Construction Business will seek to reduce total waste documentation.
to landfill by 50 per cent from 4.1 Tonnes per £100k
construction value to 2T / £100k, they will also seek “An underlying theme that has helped achieve results
to reduce waste generated in their construction waste is that waste is everyone’s responsibility,” says Senior
stream by 40 per cent to 4.1T / £100k. Sustainability Manager, Nick Clarke. “We believe
engaging everyone and making them aware of what
Reaching these targets could mean a potential £2m
is expected has made a real difference. They know
reduction in skip costs against the baseline year.
what the expectations are and have the tools and
help to achieve them.”
Implementing on projects
Following on from the training roll-out, Lend Lease
also provided specific, more detailed training for key
project staff. Key employees are trained on WRAP’s
five principles of designing out waste and the
designing out waste tools, which helps place the
emphasis on waste reduction. Employees are also
trained on the net waste tool and other key
techniques.
Year-on-year improvement in diversion of waste from landfill

3. Once on site, mixed waste was removed from the
building before separation into key waste streams
prior to removal from site. Waste was segregated into
the following waste streams: timber, metal,
packaging, plasterboard, plastics, green waste,
sweepings, raised flooring, inert waste and general
waste. This strategy also enabled non-waste items,
such as unused timber or re-usable scaffolding, to be
re-used either on site or by the local community.
“This site specific data means that the waste recovery
BBC London. Courtesy of Lend Lease, 2011 rate has a high degree of confidence, we do not rely
on recovery rates for mixed waste or generic recovery
rates from a MRF,” says Kenny Stewart, a
To help ensure the support of their supply chain, sustainability champion and project manager for the
Lend Lease has chosen to use Building Confidence, project.
the pre-qualification service that vets suppliers
against certain sustainability criteria. The business The active waste monitoring and reporting allowed
also worked with WRAP to develop procurement direct feedback on performance to be given to sub
wording, which has been included into contract contractor’s, this feedback helped raise the site teams
documentation. awareness of the issue of site wastage and improve
performance.
The wording sets requirements at invitation to tender,
pre-qualification and contract stages, clearly This strategy resulted in a figure of 96 per cent
articulating Lend Lease’s expectations in relation to diversion from landfill. In addition, the segregation
waste reduction and diversion from landfill. process and correct packaging (for example,
compaction or bulking) of any skip leaving site led to
Contractors are required to: reduced road journeys and reduced on-off site traffic,
identify waste and materials, and likely volumes, at along with a reduction in the associated haulage
the start of the project carbon footprint, saving 1.8t CO2.
estimate waste allowances relating to each material
element supplied
propose actions to reduce this waste
propose method of management for the remaining
materials (reuse on site/off site, resale, recycle,
landfill).
Case Study: University of the West of
Scotland.
The project was a £52m university development,
consisting of a three-storey concrete frame structure
University of the West of Scotland. Courtesy of Lend Lease,
with a single storey basement.
2011
To help meet the corporate waste targets on this
project, Lend Lease’s project management &
construction business considered its needs on the
Monitoring & measuring
project and procured a forward-thinking ‘waste
divergence’ contractor who could assist in achieving
Lend Lease worked with the BRE to develop bespoke
high diversion rates via segregation on site.
version of the SmartWaste tool- Minimise. This
system provides a convenient way of collecting
Waste was forecast early in the design process. This
waste, energy, timber and water data across the
was fed through the supply chain by requiring
entire national project list, giving quality data and
detailed waste forecasting from contractors as part of
reducing the administrative burden.
the tender requirements.

4. business by reducing wastage in line with our
targets.
The tool enhanced the capability of the sustainability Training key staff in designing out waste has
unit to capture detailed information and to helped the company to focus on waste reduction,
understand better metric trends so necessary
not just waste management
adjustments to operating procedures could be made
Ensuring the processes cascade down from
to enhance performance.
corporate commitment to project actions has
delivered consistently good results.
“The Halving waste to landfill
commitment complements Lend
Lease’s own waste goals. Having a
clear target and a good idea of where
we sit in relation to our peers helps
engage our supply chain.”
Minimise waste measurement system. Courtesy of Lend
Nick Clarke, Senior Sustainability Manager
Lease, 2011
Reporting
Lessons Learnt
Lend Lease reports its performance against its
corporate targets on an annual basis. This data is
reported into the Halving Waste to Landfill Reporting Have a clear target: knowing the end goal
Portal, a secure database held and maintained by helped focus energy on the key deliverables
WRAP. Engage people through training: WRAP
Netwaste tool and Designing Out Waste tool
Organisations that report can access update and training helped engage the design team
analyse their data using the system, as well as Set clear contractual requirements for
comparing anonymously against their peers. subcontractors: setting out clear requirements
for subcontractors and ensuring they were aware
of what was required helped leverage
performance
Set clear contractual requirements for
waste management subcontractors:
ensuring waste management contractors were
tied in to levels of service and reporting made the
process easier
Get good data: to ensure sound data, Lend
Lease set a ‘no mixed waste’ principle, reducing
skips labelled as ‘mixed waste’ to less than 10%.
Benefits
The benefits of improved waste and resource
management are significant, in terms of both
resource and cost.
Rolling out training in the revised procurement
processes and SOPs, company-wide has created
a strong corporate culture of waste reduction
Normalising waste generated against
construction spend allows a good assumption to
be made about the cost savings across the

5. Further material
For more information, visit the construction pages
on our web site at www.wrap.org.uk/construction.
You can access:
a range of other exemplar and cost benefit case
studies;
procurement guidance and model wording;
the Net Waste Tool (free online tool for
The Curve, Leicester. Courtesy of Lend Lease, 2011.
assessing waste arising on construction
projects);
Next Steps WRAP’s Site Waste Management Plan
Template; and
Lend Lease’s project management & construction Guidance on designing out waste.
business is in a position to share its learning and link
up its work on waste across the Lend Lease EMEA
Region.
In particular, rolling out ‘designing out waste’ across
the Group will help to continue the focus on waste
reduction. Given the good results to date with
reducing waste on site, the business is keen to push
its efforts further back up the waste hierarchy,
reducing the waste produced in the first place: a
great result for the business and its clients.
Acknowledgements
WRAP would like to thank Lend Lease for providing
time and data, and assisting in the production of this
case study.

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