The construction industry is starting to make moves towards implementing a circular economy in housing, with an increasing focus on embodied carbon in buildings and a greater appreciation on the waste generated in construction and demolition activities. Less focus has been placed on how innovations in this area can be harnessed to not just reduce waste generated through construction but also find ways to reuse waste within the homes constructed.

The Homes from Waste symposium will bring together experts involved in addressing circular economy issues specifically in the construction and building industry. All aspects of the supply chain will be considered – from the waste collectors and recyclers to material manufacturers and the end-users – builders and developers because this is not a problem that can be fixed by a single point solution.

The Sustainable Homes Challenge involves students from across Australia working in multi-disciplinary teams to design a sustainable, affordable and liveable home from waste-derived building products.

Speakers:
Michele Adair – CEO, Housing Trust & Chair of the Community Housing Industry Association
Monica Richter – Project Director, Materials & Embodied Carbon Leaders’ Alliance & Project Director, Business Renewables Centre – Australia
Ken McBryde – Design Director, Gensler
Usha Iyer-Raniga – Professor, RMIT & Lead/Co-lead, Sustainable Buildings and Construction, One Planet Network (10FYP), United Nations
Jonas Bengtsson – Founder CEO, Edge Environment
Suzanne Tombourou – CEO, Australian Council of Recycling
David Haller – National Operations Manager, Mirvac
Nik Camito – Head Of Sustainability, Bingo Industries
Emma Heffernan – Senior Lecturer in Architectural Engineering, University of Wollongong

Outline of the program:
9am Opening of Virtual Poster Session
9:30 – 11:00am Session 1: Applying the circular economy in housing
11:00-11:30 Virtual Poster Session open for Q&A
11:30 – 1pm Session 2: Reducing construction waste
2-4:30pm Sustainable Homes Challenge final pitch presentations

Expressions of interest are also invited for case studies or project overviews for the virtual poster session. If you are interested, please email a proposed title to leelak@uow.edu.au

This symposium will be followed by the Finale Event 2:30pm – 4:30pm for the Sustainable Homes Challenge. The Sustainable Homes Challenge involves students from across Australia working in multi-disciplinary teams to design a sustainable, affordable and liveable home from waste-derived building products.

This event would not be possible without our amazing sponsors:
– The Housing Trust
– The Office of Chief Scientist
– Engineers Australia
– BlueScope Steel
– The McKinnon Walker Foundation, University of Wollongong

Register here: https://www.uow.edu.au/events/2021/homes-from-waste-symposium.php