Sustainability was built into the procurement and delivery of the Charing Cross Campus Library refurbishment.
The project focused on reusing existing furniture and fittings, reducing journeys to the site, selecting UK-made furniture and incorporating recycled materials into new products.
Furniture that Imperial could no longer use was assessed for donation and reuse rather than disposal. A total of 446 existing items were included in an ethical clearance programme for reuse or recycling. This saved approximately 24.4 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, comparable to the emissions from boiling a kettle around 400,000 times. The saving was also equivalent to approximately 2% of Imperial’s emissions from staff commuting and 0.01% of Imperial’s stated total emissions.
The refurbishment also used 220m² of recycled PET acoustic material, made from the equivalent of 20,336 two-litre plastic bottles. The material was used in acoustic products such as desk screens and panels, supporting a circular approach to the selection of new furniture and fittings.