Why designing for disassembly benefits the environment and the economy

One of my early design experiences, not long after graduating, was visiting a building site in Nottingham and passing several large roll-on, roll-off skips — the sizeable commercial type that holds 350 to 400 standard bags of rubbish. Each piled high with the products and materials stripped from the hotel rooms we had designed. Every item in each of these skips discarded because we had deemed them to be surplus to requirements. At the time, almost twenty years ago, it did not sit well with me. However, I am not going to pretend that I did anything about it. I simply did what my boss asked for and what our client wanted. After all, I was a few months into a job and only just starting to learn my trade. No one was behaving out of the ordinary, and this is just the way hospitality businesses have renovated properties for years on a rolling refurbishment programme.

In all honesty, there was nothing meticulous or scientific about the decision-making process in choosing what would stay and what would go. The client and the design company I was working for threw out each item because they wanted to start with a clean slate. Nothing more than that. As a project team, we saw no value in the waste we helped to create.

The motivation behind a new project — be it a hotel, a bar, a restaurant, a home, or a shop — can vary greatly. There are many reasons why a business or an individual might wish to carry out work. Firstly the products might be failing, on their last legs and in need of an upgrade. Secondly, better products might be available so businesses can improve their service, adding value. Thirdly, new trends might have arisen, and the existing business now appears to be tired and dated. Perhaps it is merely a case of wanting to leave your own mark and start afresh.

Whatever the motivation, and regardless of whether or not you think it is justified, whenever a new project is started, waste is created — lots of it. If we want to be sustainable in a linear system (make, use, dispose), it is easy to conclude that we should do nothing. Keep everything as it is because anything we do is wasteful and impactful. But that is neither sensible nor desirable. There are enormous benefits to change and the progress it brings, both economically and as a catalyst for environmental and social progress. For example, technical efficiencies saving energy and money, cleaner/healthier products inside our home and public spaces, as well as improvements in safety standards. The last 150 years has brought enormous benefits, but also many problems which need to be rooted out and addressed. Future generations should not have to be burdened by the creations of the past, forced to live with them in perpetuity. We need a system that allows them to create, experiment and build a world that is relevant to them.

A design problem

Designers go into great detail, considering how to put things together, but do not think about how they come apart. This fundamental oversight is why design is at the centre of the global environmental crisis. Many people believe a circular economy is about materials, but it is about design. It is time for designers to take responsibility for the entire lifecycle of their creations, and part of the solution means understanding material flows — what happens when they are no longer needed. Designing for disassembly means allowing materials to have future uses, thus reducing waste and lowering the demands on virgin material, as well as benefiting clients and businesses financially.

In 2017, we completed work on a hotel in West London, designed with disassembly at its core. We used carpets and porcelain tiles with regenerative properties, fixed to allow removal in the future. We also used carbon positive paints, free from VOC’s, promoting healthier indoor air quality. But what about the furniture, fixtures and fittings? These are assembled from a range of materials, with moving parts, that must meet a range of technical requirements and performances specifications.

We created a bespoke wardrobe and desk with a fully recyclable steel frame, with FSC timber shelves and counter surfaces mechanically fixed, enabling the two materials to be separated after use and enter different recycling streams. We created the design with four primary considerations: materials, assembly, function and disassembly. By considering these factors at all stages, it enables us to help close the loop. The same principle applied to headboards, sideboards, chairs and tables.

So, what are the benefits of designing a hotel room for disassembly? Firstly, there is a significant reduction in the future level of waste. 100% of the furniture within our room can easily be removed when a refurbishment is required. It can be refinished off site to a factory level finish, and can even change colour or be modified. There are further environmental benefits to this approach, as a reuse model significantly reduces the embodied carbon of the building. In a recent study of a 25,000 square metre hotel we found the carbon reduction was as much as 75%.

The crucial part of a design process built around disassembly is that it is financially beneficial to businesses. In terms of initial investment, the room fit-out is no more costly than what developers typically call a ‘standard fit-out’. Not by making compromises but because the design solution was built on the principles of disassembly and quality.

But the huge savings come at the point of refurbishment, several years down the line. By retaining the material, refinishing and reinstalling the room, we can achieve a refurbishment for 60% of the original installationn cost. On a 100 bedroom hotel where the original furniture installation was £6,500.00 per room, the saving was approximately £260,000.00.

But there are other benefits. Design for disassembly makes repairs quick and easy. In the hotel industry, this is critical because time is money. Instead of closing rooms, we found that repairs could be undertaken while housekeeping staff were preparing them, saving operators hundreds of pounds a time in lost revenue.

When we design for disassembly, environmental and economic factors are no longer competing, they are mutually beneficial. But it requires a change in approach and an understanding that we aren’t creating a space to look great on the day it opens. By fully understanding the life cycle of the building, we create spaces that are built to last, that remain relevant and aspirational for years to come.