Gerard FinchVictoria University of Wellington · School of Architecture
Gerard Finch
PhD, MArch (Prof), ATCL
Running a construction prop-tech Start-Up focusing on Circular Economy Building Technology
About
17
Publications
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Introduction
Ged is an advocate for a building industry without waste. As a current doctoral student at Victoria University of Wellington's School of Architecture Ged is exploring, though prototype building projects, how a Circular Economy model might fundamentally disrupt the way we build. Funded by Building Research New Zealand (BRANZ) this research brings together architecture, structural engineering, building science and industrial design to evaluate reusable, recoverable building assemblies.
Skills and Expertise
Additional affiliations
Education
March 2013 - November 2015
Publications
Publications (17)
The building and construction industry is the world’s largest consumer of raw virgin materials while also being the largest producer of solid waste. The implementation of a circular economy in this sector represents an opportunity to mitigate the negative environmental impacts associated with such levels of consumption and waste creation. The circu...
A way of attaching construction elements, e.g. sheets of plywood together, is by using mortise and tenon joints. This is particularly advantageous in situations where one panel needs to be mounted perpendicular to the other, e.g. at floor-to-wall transitions, wall-to-ceiling transitions, or ceiling-to-wall transitions. With a mortise and tenon join...
Applying the Circular Economy paradigm in the built environment requires buildings to be designed for deconstruction and material recovery. Achieving circularity is complicated by the fact that requirements for deconstruction are at odds with most current mainstream construction techniques. The widespread adoption of single-use fixings, adhesives a...
The building industry is the world’s largest consumer of raw materials. In an effort to reduce the rate of consumption there is an urgent need to adopt more efficient recycling and reuse practices in the building industry. Emerging to support this need is the circular economy framework (circularity) – a concept that aims to separate ‘economic growt...
In a push for energy efficient residential building solutions the construction industry in New Zealand has defaulted to the widespread use of composite and petrochemical based materials. These materials form a sandwich of layers designed specifically to never come apart and never break down. The result is a growing concern regarding the quality and...
The global construction industry is responsible for more than forty percent of the world’s solid waste. Consequently, if we are to construct truly smart cities there is an urgent need to transition the sector
into a waste free economy where materials are recovered and reused. The Circular Economy paradigm promises just this; a design framework for...
Digital fabrication makes it possible to create precise and replicable components from engineered timber products. Coupled with strategic design, these tools can be leveraged to produce intelligent and informed jointing conditions that facilitate material arrangements of unprecedented efficiency and strength. This project builds on an existing body...
Mainstream construction practices result in the production of large quantities of toxic waste at all stages of a building’s life cycle. This can be attributed to widespread adoption of irreversible fixing methods that prioritise rapid assembly, bespoke design practices and the increased use of ‘low-value’ materials. Unprecedented levels of consumpt...
Designing timber-centric construction systems that facilitate viable structural and water-resistant material circularity in residential scale buildings.
Full doctoral 9-month research proposal.
Affordable computer-aided manufacturing has made possible a new category of timber structure. Components can now be intricately detailed to a high level of precision on a large scale. This approach has meant the increasing use of timber-only joints and more intelligent structural solutions that exploit the inherent qualities of the material. This s...
Orthogonal structural timber framing is the predominant method for building low density residential buildings in a large proportion of developed countries. Today this framing system is highly refined to be economically advantageous—making use of low-value and widely available materials. However, this construction product largely ignores the emergin...
There is an urgent need for construction systems that enable the recovery of materials at the end of a building's life. The current widespread use of adhesive-based fixings and single-life materials formed from petrochemical derivatives has led to the unprecedented generation of toxic material waste. Consequently, up to 40% of global waste is estim...
The Circular Economy (CE) poses an immense challenge to the construction sector. For the first time in the history of modern construction key stakeholders are required to consider the end-of-life pathway for building components and materials. CE principles essentially necessitate that any material is productive and without the potential to contamin...
The building and construction sector in New Zealand consumes more than 50% of all raw materials while simultaneously generating more than half of all waste sent to landfill. These unprecedented levels of consumption are set to continue as demand for residential housing continues to grow rapidly. This research suggests that building construction met...