Tile miles a key consideration for sustainable building

The managing director of Sandtoft Roof Tiles, Simon Oldridge has urged construction industry professionals to consider their sourcing strategies as an integral component of greener building practices.

According to the Energy Saving Trust, the transportation of construction materials accounts for five percent of the UK’s total energy burden; and as designers often look outside the UK when sourcing materials, Sandtoft believes the embodied energy of products is often being overlooked – even for sustainable developments.

Simon Oldridge commented: “Although the energy efficiency of a building once it is completed has become a primary focus for many developers, there remains very little attention paid to the energy required to manufacture, transport and install the construction materials in the first place.”

“Transportation of roofing materials from as far afield as East Germany, Poland and Turkey makes little sense. Aside from the traceability and accountability issues that imports bring with them, the carbon footprint of these tiles is huge compared with UK sourced products,” he added.

The embodied energy of materials used to build an average home can equate to fifteen years of operational use, making the selection of energy efficient construction materials essential for any development looking to have minimum impact on the environment.

Most roof tile imports are transported via sea freight, a mode of transport often regarded as green, but recently highlighted by The Guardian as responsible for more than double the CO2 emissions than those generated through aviation.

Simon Oldridge continued: “Sourcing building products locally can significantly reduce the carbon emissions attributed to a construction project, and yet the lack of attention given to the transportation of construction materials in the discussion of sustainable futures is worrying.”

Mr Oldridge will be a keynote speaker at the forthcoming RIBA conference on Sustainable Building Products in May, and the embodied energy of materials is likely to be one of the topics covered in his speech.

Sandtoft itself has made changes to its sourcing structure to make use of local suppliers; and all of the company’s clay roof tile plants are located within close proximity to clay pits in order to reduce raw material transportation. As part of its environmental strategy, the family-run firm has also switched to 100 percent renewable electricity for all its operations. This move alone will reduce the company’s carbon emissions by 25 percent.

Simon Oldridge added: “Manufacturers, as well as architects, specifiers and developers, have a responsibility to reduce the carbon emissions generated by the UK’s construction industry. By making the decision to source materials locally, the carbon footprint of projects can be significantly reduced before a single brick has even been laid.”