Zero Footprint Repurposing → by Revival Projects was announced as the winner of the Melbourne Design Week Award, an annual prize awarded for an outstanding contribution to Australia’s largest international design event.

Zero Footprint Repurposing was selected by the Melbourne Design Week curatorial team from more than 300 programs as the event that most resonantly responds to the design week’s theme ‘Design the world you want’ and it’s two pillars ‘civic good and making good’.

Located on the site of 99-117 Islington Street →, a new workplace development currently being designed by Grimshaw for developers, ANPLUS, the event was held for just one day and took place within the site’s existing 100-year-old warehouse, currently home to Revival Project’s Zero Footprint.

Repurposing hub and ground zero for Grimshaw’s circular economy design approach for the new development.

“Almost half of waste worldwide comes from construction and demolition waste. To address this global problem, we have set up one of the world’s first free repurposing hubs in the heart of Collingwood to facilitate repurposing initiatives on an unprecedented scale,” said Revival Projects founder, Robbie Neville.

The warehouse hub was open for tours, offering guests the opportunity to visit Revival Projects’ workshop at Islington Street and learn about the valuable materials onsite, and discover how designers, builders and clients can revolutionise the industry’s approach to repurposing.

“At 99-117 Islington Street, the existing 100-year-old warehouse is constructed primarily from old growth timber and local Melbourne brick - highly valuable, beautiful and robust materials,” said Grimshaw Associate, Harriet Oswald.

If a ‘business as usual’ approach was to be applied to the development of this site, the inherent value of these materials would be lost through demolition and disposed of as landfill waste. Instead, in collaboration with ANPLUS Developments and Revival Projects, we’re looking to embrace a new approach to the development of the site where the inherent value of the existing materials is assessed and repurposed in a way that honours their origins and makes optimal use of their structural, aesthetic, and heritage values. We have created a full taxonomy of parts.”

The workshop tours were followed by a talk co-hosted by Revival Projects and Grimshaw with participants including Robbie Neville and Harriet Oswald along with Ingrid Langtry from Assemble Communities, Liam Wallis from HIP V. HYPE, and Clare Parry from Development Victoria.

The Zero Footprint Repurposing event aimed to inspire meaningful change in the building industry through demonstrating effective ways of repurposing existing materials and celebrating the power of multi-disciplinary collaboration.

“Ultimately, it would be great if Zero Footprint Repurposing could affect legislative change to ensure all existing site materials across our city are handled responsibly and used in such a way that their inherent value is optimised,” said Robbie Neville.