The company behind the demolition and clearance of a 54 acre site in the UK has revealed that it achieved recycling rates of over 90 per cent.

Construction & Demolition Recycling reported that Hughes & Salvidge took a methodical approach to demolishing the buildings on the industrial campus, as well as having a plan in place to ensure as much of the material as possible was recycled.

Although a substantial amount of asbestos and rubber was removed from the area, the firm was able to recycle 16,500 metric tons of metal.

It also used on-site machinery to crush concrete, enabling it to be used as backfill at the site.

But this wasn’t the only benefit to this approach. The news provider noted that crushing the concrete on site also “reduced pollution by minimising truck traffic to and from the site; it kept concrete debris out of landfill; and it reduced the aggregate needed to be brought in by providing a ready-made base material for future development”.

Demolition firms that don’t have the ability to carry out crushing activities may want to look into the hire of heavy duty crushers to allow them to take a similar approach on future projects.

The news provider also revealed that during the work Hughes & Salvidge became “the first demolition company to achieve the Carbon Trust Standard for Carbon Reduction”.

With the UK looking for more space to build new homes, developing on brownfield sites is likely to become more common and therefore it could be beneficial for more demolition firms to take a similar approach.

For instance, the Manchester Evening News recently reported that a new housing estate could be constructed on the site of Dunlop Cotton Mill, which was once believed to be the biggest cotton mill in the world. Proposals for 218 houses, as well as a block of 24 apartments, have been submitted to the local council.