This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
FLEXIBLE workspace provider WOTSO is partnering with XFrame, adopting the early-stage company’s patented sustainable wall framing technology.
ASX-listed WOTSO recently successfully installed XFrame at its new Liverpool workspace and is now planning to integrate the product into its fit-outs where possible, with XFrame technology able to be installed or deconstructed in hours for reuse in other spaces.
“What interested me immediately about XFrame was the sustainability piece,” said Jessie Glew, CEO at WOTSO.
“Whilst the external cladding of our spaces is upcycled or recycled as much as possible with material that we’ve taken from other fit-outs, or collected along the way, the actual framing used to make the internal walls wasn’t recyclable. This is what’s really cool about XFrame because immediately the system is sustainable.”
XFrame was developed in response to the high levels of waste generated by the construction industry, including internal wall framing which is typically ripped up and thrown away with every refit.
“The nature of the FlexSpace beast is that you’ve got businesses expanding or contracting all the time, or you’re reconfiguring your space because you need to include more co-working area or need to build more offices,” added Glew.
“With XFrame you can literally unclip the wall from the floor, move it and reinstate it in a new location, enabling us to be more flexible with our space in a sustainable way.”
XFrame’s internal walling system utilises rectangular panels either 1.2m x 2.4m or 0.6m x 2.4m made from plywood (Australian plantation radiata pine) that is braced corner-to-corner with an X support. Without nails, XFrame relies instead on bolts and clips.
“Because it’s not designed to be deconstructed there’s so much cost involved in recovering the materials in a high-value manner, that it’s just not economical. That’s why you see fit-outs being gutted because there’s no value in those materials and quite often the materials being used don’t hold up to multiple use cycles,” said Ged Finch, founder and chief technology founder at XFrame.
“As XFrame grows we hope to establish a thriving reuse market, facilitating buy-back, recovery and redeployment of the system to ensure long term waste minimisation.”
