The award-winning venture, which was up for Initiative of the Year in both the ‘Carbon Net Zero’ and ‘Environment and Sustainability’ categories, reclaims tonnes of pre-war steel from The Elephant — the refurbishment of Oxford Street’s former House of Fraser — for reuse at TBC.London — a transformational low carbon office retrofit at Tower Bridge for FORE Partnership.

Conceived during an industry cycling event, the scheme demonstrates the commitment to circularity by the teams across both projects. Civic Engineers liaised with McLaren, the contractor on The Elephant refurbishment, to coordinate the removal and relocation of the 1930s steel. Our team then undertook rigourous structural testing of the steel and collaborated with the TBC:London contractor, Wilmott Dixon, and client to incorporate as much as possible into the design and construction.

As the work was progressing, guidance on the re-use of pre 1970s steel was published — it is thought that this is the first time that the guidance was used in practice. The approach saved approximately 48 tonnes of carbon compared to using new steelwork.

The initiative has resulted in the formation of The Engineers Reuse Collective, a forum for accelerating and delivering the reuse of materials in the built environment.