A community interest company is getting set to kick start a unique scheme that aims to cut down on waste and give community construction projects a helping hand.

The Rebuild Site CIC, which currently has an office set up at Kingmoor Park in Carlisle and a depot that is beginning to come together, will act as a go between for contractors who are wanting to offload surplus building material, and smaller traders who are looking to access building materials.

One of the company's director's, Emma Porter, said that she and her three fellow directors - Gary Murray, Maisie Hunt and Debbie Ward - are also looking to challenge how we think about buildings and materials.

She said that there is an issue in the construction industry, whereby surplus goods can often end up going to waste.

"In the construction industry there are really tight programmes and you have to order full loads and deliveries," said Emma.

"You almost have to order a little bit ore than you need. You can't risk running out and you cannot risk having a site held up because it was a pack of bricks short. It's almost inevitable at the end that you have surplus left over.

"If it is a lot of material it can go to the next site, or if it is of particular high value you might keep it in the compound. You generally find that construction companies and traders have got a compound, garage or shed that is full of bits and pieces left over from jobs that are too good to throw away, but that they don't really need.

"In reality, a lot of it does end up going into a skip at the end of the job because it is quite hard to find another route for it to go out.

"You or I could put it out on Facebook of Ebay, but the contractors can't do that. They haven't got the space to store it, they haven't got the time to organise keeping it in one place and selling it on.

"The industry has done a lot to reduce [surplus] going into landfill, but it is still wasteful."

The Rebuild Site, which will be similar to a "small B&Q" will have basic building materials on offer at first.

However, the wider vision of the community interest company is far from basic.

The directors are hoping to test the waters of a circular economy - a model of production that involves recycling existing materials for as long as possible.

This, Emma said, is also influenced by the need for everyone to start cutting their emissions and to start thinking about being more sustainable.

She added: "COP26 got a lot more attention than previous [climate change conferences] and I think there is a lot of pressure and interest in the industry to begin to tackle the input that the construction industry has on climate change and getting to net zero carbon emissions.

"Some of it will come through technological developments and getting different types of materials, but some of it will come from a move to a circular economy."