Gilli Hobbs and her business partner, Katharine Adams, have worked tirelessly for years at the Building Research Establishment to reduce waste in mainstream construction and decrease new buildings carbon footprints. Every now and again they also like to pitch up at Salvo Fair, and join in the wheeling and dealing with some of the products they have made from reclaimed materials and architectural, garden and home salvage they have found on their travels.
 
Can you explain what first made you interested in using salvaged and reclaimed materials?
I've been working in waste management and resource efficiency for many years. This all stemmed from an aspiration to 'save the planet' as a naïve teenager!
 
Did any people or places have a particular influence on your interest/love of salvage materials?
Your Dad! I met him (Thornton Kay) in the early days of working at BRE and carried out a pre-demolition salvage audit, possibly the first one ever done, on the buildings that were due to be demolished to make way for the Energy Efficient Office of the Future (aka Building 16).
 
What sort of salvaged items are you most enthusiastic about?
I'm mostly interested in timber based items - many of these are irreplaceable from a material basis e.g. old pine, tropical hardwoods etc.
 
What made you take the next step of making a career selling salvage and upcycling with reclaimed materials?
Along with Katharine, a friend and fellow consultant, I was frustrated by the lack of practical examples or businesses that were operating as surplus material salvage outfits, since a lot of new material is skipped from construction sites on a daily basis. Although we don't bother 'upcycling' so much now as people seem to want to do this themselves.
 
Has being a woman working with salvaged materials made life easier or more difficult?
I think it's more difficult from the perspective of family commitments, but otherwise no real difference.
 
Highlights or down side of working with or using reclaimed/salvage?
The highlights are saving something that would have been recycled or dumped and rehoming it. The down-side is spending hours upcycling something and then not being able to sell it.
 
Have you any tips for other women wanting to start a salvage business?
Don't bother spending hours upcycling stuff unless you know there's a market for it. Do a little bit to test the market.
 
Would you recommend any study courses or training or do you think hands on experience is the best way to learn?
For me, the hands on experience has been most useful.
 
How do you feel about the eco-friendly reuse side of salvage?
This is everything that inspires me with respect to reuse and salvage.
 
Do you personally help promote salvage?
Mainly through BRE work, for example the Innovate UK project on Truly Reclaimed Wood Mark that Thornton and Salvo have been helping with.
 
Have you used salvaged or reclaimed items in your own home?
All over it, and in it! The last project I did that I'm quite chuffed with was decking from reject scaffolding boards (from Cambridge Wood works which has now closed down) and a garden bench made from big granite blocks (surplus from railway station refurb project) and decorative concrete slab - I honestly can't remember where this came from - it just appeared!
 
What is the reclaimed project you currently working on?
I haven't got one at the moment, but would like to finish the (salvaged) slabwork at bottom of garden to put a workshop on. I'm also thinking about using reclaimed bricks to put in driveway, but that that's a project for next year.
 
What do you do in your spare time? How you relax and unwind, fav places to visit or holiday?
Salvage, vintage and retro shopping is my hobby more than day job. Otherwise I like to travel - we frequently go to France.
 
Gilli Hobbs, BRE, Watford. Tel: 0333 321 88 11
 
The Salvo Fair will be held on 18-19 June at Fawley Hill in Henley-on-Thames with Trade Day on Friday 17th June. If you would like to be involved in 'Hats off to Women' answer the same questions and send us your story and photos to Salvo.