Project Overview
An industry-first apartment at Mirvac’s Pavilions development in Sydney Olympic Park has been constructed using ‘green ceramics’, and has become a blueprint for how future development can join the circular economy in ways that are desirable, feasible and scalable.
These green ceramics, manufactured from waste glass and textiles, are an innovation born from collaboration between Mirvac and the University of NSW Centre of Sustainable Materials Research and Technology (SMaRT), led by global pioneer in waste technology, Professor Veena Sahajwalla.
The collaboration pioneers a way to revolutionise the construction industry by producing an entirely new built-environment material from waste that would otherwise find its way to landfill.
Green ceramics are produced at SMaRT Centre’s MICROfactorie™ by reforming problematic waste materials through a combination of heat and compression.
The Pavilions apartment is the first time these green ceramics have been used as a construction material in a residential setting, as floor and wall tiles, kitchen-island fronts, light-fittings, furniture and artworks.
The apartment was designed by Mirvac Design. Pavilions’ project team conducted extensive testing of the sample materials, modifying the green ceramic products in collaboration with the SMaRT Centre until they satisfied the relevant building codes, Mirvac’s stringent quality requirements, and without compromising Mirvac Design’s vision.
The apartment’s design excellence demonstrates a new, viable circularity for waste materials and has the potential to deliver impact at scale.
As a next step, Mirvac is investigating opportunities to create additional microfactories to locally manufacture green ceramics at its future projects.
Organisation
Project Brief
The building and construction industry contributes 60% of Australia’s waste, which equates to around 41 million tonnes a year. Recent export bans means Australia can no longer send waste overseas to become someone else’s problem. As one of Australia’s leading development companies, Mirvac is a heavy user of resources, yet it aims to be net positive in carbon and water and send zero waste to landfill by 2030. Mirvac is constantly looking for solutions and materials to make its developments – and the future of the whole construction and development industry – more sustainable, while simultaneously diverting waste from landfill.
The SMaRT Apartment at Pavilions has been conceived as an opportunity to showcase the quality and care in every little detail of the Pavilions residences, while also promoting the innovation and sustainability credentials of Mirvac’s partnership with the NSW SMaRT Centre and Professor Veena Sahajwalla. The apartment is a way to show the pioneering strides Mirvac is taking to make design, construction and development more sustainable without compromising design excellence, safety and construction quality.
Project Innovation/Need
The apartment is an industry first, being the first time these green ceramics crafted from waste have been used as a building material. Green ceramics are unusual because they combine/reform two dissimilar waste sources –glass and textiles– to create an entirely new material. Normally, material recycling produces more of the same material–for example, glass recycled creates more glass, or PET plastics recycle as plastic. However, the nature of green ceramics is unique in the building market, providing vast opportunity for creativity. Glass loses none of its properties and can be recycled many times over. The addition of textiles provides the product’s aesthetic. For example, a blue waste textile will give the tile a blue hue. It also adds a technical element critical to meeting building code.
Depending on the combination of waste materials used, green ceramics are inherently variable, producing an exciting new material with its own unique grain and character, similar to timber or natural stone. The floor tile at Pavilions has a terrazzo look which could be somewhat modified during manufacture to suit the designer’s vision. There’s beauty in the way this new material tells the story of its circularity through character, colour, grain.
Leading Australian interior stylist Steve Cordony curated complementary pieces for the apartment to support its sustainability focus, for example, a tapestry triptych by Crossing Threads made from repurposed materials.
The apartment has been showcased to public/industry to build awareness of microfactorie technology and promote viable, scalable ways to reduce the impact of development.
Design Challenge
The greatest challenge was progressing the green ceramics from a conceptual prototype to a truly functional residential construction material that did not compromise on design values. Mirvac and the SMaRT Centre collaborated closely during months of testing to perfect the aesthetics and performance of the green ceramics for the apartment at Pavilions. The material had to comply with the Building Code of Australia, pass tests for slip and fire resistance and acoustics, and meet Mirvac Design standards, proving its ability to stand up to normal household wear and tear and kitchen stains and spills.
The months of testing and modifications have resulted in a product that meets building codes and Mirvac’s quality standards. The result is a beautiful apartment desirable to a mass audience, giving green ceramics valuable marketability. Testing has also resulted in product consistency, giving Mirvac the confidence to use this product in its future projects, and bringing development further into the circular economy.
Sustainability
Mirvac and the SMaRT Centre first partnered on a few ‘green ceramics’ furniture pieces for the display apartment at Mirvac’s Marrick & Co development. The apartment at Pavilions extends this green ceramics innovation into functional, beautiful building materials for the first time. SMaRT Centre has brought its science and engineering knowledge to Mirvac’s expertise in design, development, construction and marketing.
Green ceramics are made via the MICROfactorie™ process using yellow-bin glass and textiles – both considered problematic waste streams despite their inherent qualities. They have become floor tiles, splashbacks, kitchen island fronts, shelving, artwork, lighting and furniture. Where a wall feature required a softer effect, manufacture was modified to add jute bags (once used for storing coffee beans). Transforming these waste materials into whole new materials and products keeps them circulating in the economy for as long as possible.
Mirvac is now considering on-site microfactories at future projects to produce green ceramics at the source – eliminating the impact of virgin materials and transportation.
At the Pavilions apartment launch, NSW Energy & Environment Minister Matt Kean said this could become “the blueprint for how we do sustainable development in the future”. “Diverting the large volumes of waste generated on construction sites from landfill to create quality finishes and furniture is not only good for our environment but good for the economy.”
Now waste from Mirvac’s current redevelopment of the former Nine studios is being processed at a Cootamundra microfactorie for potential reuse in that same development.
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Environmental Design
This award celebrates innovative and creative design for environmental projects. Consideration given to materials, finishes, sustainablility and environmental impact.
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