The city of Brighton is set to be home to the UK’s first building made entirely out of waste.

Designed by architect and researcher Duncan Baker-Brown, it will be built at the University of Brighton using locally sourced waste materials from building sites and recycling centres. Brown says the project will test the idea that “there is no such thing as waste, just stuff in the wrong place!”

Mr Brown, Co-founder of BBM Sustainable Design and a senior lecturer at the arts faculty told reports: “There is a huge pile of construction waste that’s building up in this country and to ignore is quite frankly sinful… We have decided to focus on how to reuse waste material on a real-life building for a number of reasons, not least because we know how important it is to reuse and recycle from the point of view of the environment.”

The building will also include solar panels, whole-house ventilation and a heat recovery system and will be used as a pilot for prototype construction systems and technologies.

Upon completion, it will be used as the university’s headquarters for sustainable design and include an exhibition and workshop space for local community groups. The university says it aims to exceed EU targets for a 30% reduction in CO2 emissions and become an example for the city and the region in sustainable design and practice.

The building will be known as ‘The house that Kevin built” and is named after Europe’s first prefabricated house built using entirely eco-friendly materials in 2008, also created by Brown.