Getjar’s Special Projects, Masterson Holding’s specialist demolition division has worked on the recovery and recycling of glass from the landmark, New Zealand House in St James’s, London, as part of a £150 million refurbishment project, being led by Multiplex, on behalf of Crown Estates.
Finding the most sustainable approach to all aspects of the refurbishment of New Zealand House is vital to the success of the project. Stakeholders involved in the project are aligned on their net-zero CO2 targets. At tender, Getjar Special Projects committed to recycling the entire glazed façade, and Getjar Special Projects has delivered, by working collaboratively with The Crown Estate, Multiplex and Saint-Gobain Glass, to remove and recycle glass from New Zealand House, into new, high-performance, building glass.
Getjar Special Projects, with the help of Saint-Gobain, introduced the process of closed-loop, glass recycling, using Saint-Gobain’s Glass Forever programme to Crown Estates and Multiplex.
The New Zealand House site was audited by Saint-Gobain and a plan to remove the glass from the building and transport it to Saint-Gobain’s manufacturing site in East Yorkshire was developed.
The Getjar team has carefully deglazed the building, using nickel-free blades to cut the large panes of glass, some up 6 metres in height, into smaller 750cm2 pieces, then placing the pieces into collection bags. By cutting the glass, rather than breaking the glass using a safe-break table, Getjar has managed the limited space on site and has optimised the process of recovery for this project.