Inside This Sydney Apartment Made With Recycled Materials
How ‘green ceramics’ could revolutionise the future of building.
2 min
The push for more sustainable building practices has been met by an industry-first apartment made using waste materials.
Australian property group Mirvac recently revealed the revolutionary Pavilions apartment at Sydney Olympic Park which boasts flooring, wall tiles, kitchen and lighting features, furniture and artworks all made from waste glass and textiles.
The new apartment utilises ‘green ceramics’, a process developed by Mirvac and UNSW’s Centre of Sustainable Materials Research and Technology (SMaRT) led by waste technology pioneer, Professor Veena Sahajwalla.
Green ceramics takes problematic waste materials, predominantly waste and textiles, and reforms them into new products through a combination of heat and compression. In the Pavilions apartment, all tiles are made from yellow bin glass and textiles, by way of example.
“In Australia, the building industry is responsible for around 60 per cent of the waste we generate,” Ms Lloyd Hurqitz, Mirvac CEO and managing director said.
“At Pavilions, we have been able to demonstrate a better way to build, using reformed waste, which not only helps our industry but provides a valuable second life for the mountains of glass and clothing, much of which would otherwise find its way to landfill.”
The next stage in the SMaRT centre collaboration is to investigate opportunities to establish a facility to enable local sourcing and manufacture of waste into green ceramics.
The SMaRT centre is also assisting Mirvac on its other development sites in Sydney, identifying materials that can be diverted to recycling or reforming before demolition works begin.
Chris Dixon, a partner who led the charge, says he has a ‘very long-term horizon’
Americans now think they need at least $1.25 million for retirement, a 20% increase from a year ago, according to a survey by Northwestern Mutual
Scheduled auctions fall to winter levels as vendors hold back on going to market
< 1 min
Grand final fever and the long weekend have dampened scheduled auction activity this weekend, CoreLogic reports.
The number of homes scheduled for auction this weekend is set to halve, with 1,324 properties listed, marking the quietest week since mid June. Melbourne will experience the quietest week since Easter, CoreLogic data shows, with 223 homes prepared to go under the hammer. In Sydney, 805 properties are expected to go to market, the lowest number in seven weeks.
With long weekends in Queensland and South Australia, numbers are also down in Brisbane (111) and Adelaide (86), less than half the properties available for auction the previous week. It’s a less dramatic drop in Canberra, where 83 homes are scheduled for auction, down -22.4 percent on the previous week.
Chris Dixon, a partner who led the charge, says he has a ‘very long-term horizon’
Americans now think they need at least $1.25 million for retirement, a 20% increase from a year ago, according to a survey by Northwestern Mutual
