Eco-Build NW - Construction flows
Analysis of resources, waste and impacts in the construction process
Resource flows in construction
If we assume that material use is evenly spread in proportion to construction spending, then there is 25% in housing, 33% in commercial, 11% in public services, 12% in industry and 19% in infrastructure.
- Construction as a whole in the WM region uses 35 million tonnes of materials directly (DMC), and used 70 million tonnes in total material consumption (TMC). This equates to over 10 tonnes for every person in the region
- 50% of TMC is used on quarry products, including aggregates, sand, crushed rock and limestone
- Cement, concrete and plaster products are the next largest, at 15 million tonnes
- Slate, bitumen, stone and other non-metallic minerals are also at 6 million tonnes
- Metal and metal products of all kinds, were 1 million tonnes
- Wood/wood-based products are 2.5 million tonnes
- Raw materials make up roughly 90% of material inputs for the construction sector, while only 10% are recycled or secondary
- The footprint of quarry material transportation is 7 times higher than the footprint for the production and use of the material
The REAP results suggest that an average dwelling in the North West requires 151 tonnes of materials to construct; whereas the BRE data suggests this figure is closer to 121 tonnes: the difference is mainly from the allocation of foundations and fill material.
