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(l-r) Grundon’s Contract Manager, James Luckett with Adam Craig, Senior Estates Manager JLL
The International Quarter London (IQL) is a new development on land in Stratford which once hosted the London 2012 Olympic Games. It blends office space with entertainment, retail and sporting complexes, alongside new homes and open spaces.
As managing agents for the IQL estate, JLL determined from the start to make sustainability a top priority for tenants, who include the British Council, Cancer Research UK and UNICEF UK.
It created a Sustainability Charter and among the objectives was – unlike other similar developments – to appoint one waste management provider for the entire estate, helping to streamline collections, reduce carbon emissions and improve waste education among tenants.
As the preferred waste partner, Grundon Waste Management is responsible for waste in the three main buildings, working closely with managing agents Savills and CBRE, as well as at the adjacent TfL building.
In addition to usual waste management activities, the Grundon team has introduced a number of innovative ideas. These include its popular Paper Cup Recycling service and a new specialist industrial waste management system which has revolutionised the way tenants are charged for their waste.
The system, from Weightron Bilanciai, allows each tenant to be charged for only the exact amount of their own waste. Previously they would have been billed for an average cost based on the overall amount of waste taken away.
When a tenant’s waste is brought down to the loading bay, the tenant’s individual PIN code is entered onto a screen and the type of waste (ie mixed recycling, food, general waste etc) selected. This enables the waste to be accurately weighed and recorded, with the information sent to the managing agent.
Grundon’s James Luckett, Contract Manager for the IQL project, said: “The tenants really appreciate the fact that they can directly influence the amount they are charged for waste disposal, it really helps them to think about how they can do things differently to reduce their costs and we have definitely seen improved recycling figures as a result.”
