Barratt urges workers to put builders' waste in stud walls

Barratt has come under fire for encouraging its workers to put builders' waste into the stud walls of new homes, rather than taking it off site for recycling.

In a booklet of cost-saving ideas being circulated around the company, employees are being encouraged to put plasterboard and timber off-cuts into the cavity in stud walls.

The booklet says: "Off-cuts/waste from CLS stud and plasterboard can be left within the stud wall construction. CLS should be nailed to the sole plate and plasterboard should be fixed to avoid it moving."

It claims that the added bonus of doing this is "reduced cart-away cost" and a "slight increase to wall density".

But one house building industry source told CJ: "This has amused a lot of us in the house building industry. You wouldn't want this kind of thing in your own house and you have to remember that the likes of Knauf and British Gypsum offer recycling services for plasterboard. Pretty much all timber can be recycled."

The practice is also frowned upon by the National House-Building Council (NHBC). Its Technical Standards reference document requires all work to be carried out in a "proper, neat and workmanlike manner".

In a statement, the NHBC said: "Depositing waste into partitions or other voids could have an adverse effect on the in-service performance of the home and would generally be unacceptable."

But a Barratt spokesman said: "In common with other house builders, we have in the past six months used plasterboard off-cuts within the stud wall of homes at certain developments.

"This is an environmentally friendly way of reducing our carbon footprint and improves the acoustics of the home by increasing wall density."