The DRIDS roll on
26/01/2014
The National Federation of Demolition Contractors (NFDC) has won top honours at the 2013 Chartered Institution of Wastes Management (CIWM) Awards for Environmental Excellence, which recognise and reward good practice in sustainable waste and resource management.
The Federation scooped the Bond Dickinson Sustainable Construction & Demolition Project award, sponsored by Bond Dickinson, at an awards ceremony in London last week hosted by TV presenter Michaela Strachan.
It won the top prize for its Demolition & Refurbishment Information Data Sheets (DRIDS) system, which provide contractors with free and easily accessible information about the management, recycling and disposal options for the vast array of materials encountered in demolition and refurbishment projects.
Running on both web-based and mobile platforms, the system has attracted the interest of the European Demolition Association for further development and potentially a Europe-wide roll out. In making their decision to give NFDC the award, the judging panel said that the DRIDS system addressed a tangible need in the demolition and refurbishment sector.
“DRIDS will assist organisations working in these sectors to be able to better record, manage and reduce the waste they create and, in future, to design it out,” said the judges.
“The development of an application to support this demonstrates foresight as mobile technology will play an increasing role in resource efficiency in construction by allowing ‘real time’ logging of information.”
Commenting on the award, NFDC CEO Howard Button said:
“It is a great honour for the Federation to win this award and to be endorsed by our peers within the waste industry clearly shows that the DRIDS system has universal acceptance and recognition. With Phase 2 under fast track development, we can expect far more when in the New Year.”
CIWM chief executive Steve Lee added: “Accurate and accessible information and good practice guidance are essential if we are to help businesses in every sector to embrace sustainability and resource efficiency. This comprehensive toolkit from NFDC will certainly help contractors to reap the the environmental and economic benefits of recovering and recycling valuable waste materials.”
The judges for the CIWM Excellence Awards 2013 included John Ingham, environment editor of the Daily Express, Marcus Gover, director of market development for WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme), Mohamed Osmani, chair of CIRIA’s Sustainability Advisory Panel and senior lecturer at Loughborough University, and Steve Agg, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport.
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