Libro

In the past ten years, despite our efforts to be less wasteful, the amount we throw away has grown by fifty per cent. Every year, for example, we make billions of new bricks and throw away billions of reusable old ones. Twelve bricks embody the energy of a gallon of petrol, so saving old bricks helps reduce global warming.
Happily, creative reuse of architectural and garden salvage - long the domain of idiosyncratic stylists - is now being encouraged by governments, to help reduce the ever-increasing amounts of material being sent to landfill.
The recent trade in salvage came about because some people saw the potential of the things that were being thrown away. Andy Thornton in Yorkshire, Adrian Amos in London and Rick Knapp in Bath were pioneers in the 1970s, heroically rescuing and carving out a market for unloved fireplaces, joinery, garden statuary, stone and floorboards.
As our built heritage became more protected, less was jettisoned, so the predominant salvage type moved from Georgian to Victorian. Now 1950s retro is all the rage. For dealers, the name of the game is to find something no-one wants, save a load of it, create an appreciation for it and then try to make a market in it.
Reuse should begin at home, by saving everything possible. When your electrician or plumber removes floorboards and skirting, it should be done like an archaeological excavation. All boards should be photographed, numbered and carefully stored; all then carefully replaced afterwards. Floorboards should be washed and waxed, not sanded. This will conserve the patina of age and, more importantly, energy and resources.
So, to sum up, save what you can and reuse where you can, and be uncompromising in the face of recalcitrant builders, designers and planners. Appreciate the old materials and the skills that went into them, and give them the chance of a second life.

Thornton Kay
Senior partner,Salvo
www.salvo.co.uk