Sustainable site planning and design

About 80 per cent of a product's environmental impact, including e-waste, is determined during the design phase. One of the best ways you can be more environmentally sustainable is by influencing how the builds you work on are designed and planned.

While we know that’s not always possible, it’s a great idea to discuss with your customers, architects, and designers the ways you can collectively reduce waste on your projects.

The basics

Sustainable site planning

Sustainable site planning is when a construction project’s design considers the environment – things like site selection, landscaping, and stormwater management. Sustainable site planning reduces the negative impact of development on the surrounding area.

Design out waste

As the saying goes, "Good design is key to sustainability”. There are five key principles for designing out waste.

Putting it into practice

Sustainable design decisions

Decisions like material selection, durability, reparability, and recyclability all impact the amount of waste at the end of your build.

Not only that, but the specific products you use also affect the sustainability of your build, so it’s important to consider a range of factors, such as:

what material the product is made from
whether the material is from a renewable/natural source
where it’s made
the working conditions of those who make it
how far it travels to your site

We understand that’s quite a few variables to keep track of for likely a very large number of products, but we’re here to help. Read about to tell the difference between equitable, science-based, sustainability claims and greenwashing, or ask one of our team to talk you through it.

The Mitre10 Trade team has done the hard yards to find out where our products come from and what goes into them. If you’re looking to get help and choose the most sustainable products, talk to your local Trade team.

Products made from waste

There are many innovative building materials made from waste, including

SaveBOARD – where beverage cartons become fibreboard
X-Pod and QPod - building foundation components made from recycled plastics
Pink Batts – insulation made from recycled glass

Right product, right time, right amount

Making sure you buy the right products, at the right time, in the right amount is a critical part of every build, as well as reducing your waste at the end of the project. Did you know that as much as 14% of materials ordered as part of a new build end up as waste? Check out our Sustainable procurement to find out how to reduce this.

Energy efficiency

The other thing to consider is how efficient the building you’re creating will be once it’s in use. Our buildings are built to last at least 50 years, so we need to remember the decisions we make today can have a long-lasting impact.

There are plenty of simple things you can do, such as:

Insulate well so it uses less energy for heating and cooling
Use efficient lighting systems
Design for renewable energy use if possible
Use recycled, or collected rainwater, wastewater system

All these things can significantly reduce a building’s environmental impact over its lifetime, also known as its operational carbon. For more information, read about carbon and how to reduce it here.

Talk to your clients about

Understanding their climate zone, and how the building needs to be designed and built to accommodate specific, local challenges (here’s some more information on that)
Plants, trees and landscapes - choose trees and shrubs that suit the local environment as this will significantly reduce the need for heavy water and fertiliser use.
Planning the orientation of the build to take advantage of the biggest free heater in the world - the sun. By analysing the impact of the sun on a site, as well as the building’s location, spatial arrangement, orientation, window placement, daylight access and other design features, you can take full advantage of passive solar design and increase the energy efficiency, comfort, and financial value of their new home.

Extra for experts

There are loads of fantastic resources on sustainable building, some of which are listed below.