When it comes to building sustainability, two barriers frequently crop up: the perception that greener choices carry additional cost and inconvenience, and the absence of formal infrastructure that would make adopting them straightforward. The Tipping Point East facility in east London is striving to tackle both – providing a formalised system for disposing of and reusing waste, and making it affordable and accessible to do so.

“We’re trying to change how the construction industry operates at scale,” says Talia Berriman, head of green economy at the local authority, Newham borough council. Located on an industrial site in the Royal Docks – an area undergoing rapid regeneration but that remains among the most economically deprived in the country – it describes itself as the UK’s first circular construction hub, and aims to be Europe’s largest when fully operational.

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