New roles and responsibilities in circular construction

The transition to a circular economy will require a new systemic and holistic approach to how buildings are designed, used, and maintained by everyone involved in the construction process. Circular activities can be implemented throughout building lifecycle stages:

• Design stage: including sustainable and secondary materials in the design, design-for-disassembly, and design-for-adaptability;

• Construction stage: reuse of construction components and equipment, responsible and sustainable construction waste management.

• Operational stage: conscious maintenance and repair, optimisation of energy consumption.

• Demolition stage: selective demolition, responsible and sustainable demolition waste management.

In this section, the new responsibilities of construction stakeholders are concisely shown.

Contractors

• reducing consumption of materials/elements by optimising their delivery (thus avoiding over-ordering) and sourcing them from local suppliers (thus avoiding long-distance transport);

• reducing consumption of materials/elements and waste generation (off-cuts) by cooperating with manufacturers supplying ready-for-assembly products to the desired size;

• properly sorting construction waste;

• actively cooperating with design teams to provide hands-on knowledge on circular solutions within the construction stage.

Demolition team

• performing or contributing to the so-called selective demolition plan;

• performing selective demolition, properly separating and segregating waste into reusable and recyclable;

• actively cooperating with design teams and contractors to provide hands-on knowledge on circular solutions within the construction stage.

Design teams

• changing the design paradigm to focus on what we have locally available and try to design around it;

• increasing the share of secondary and sustainable materials in the design;

• including design-for-disassembly and design-for-adaptability aspects in the project;

• cooperating with contractors and manufacturers to form multi-disciplinary teams working on the most efficient ways of including circular solutions in the design;

• cooperating with the project owner/investor to spread knowledge on circular solutions and their positive environmental and social aspects.

Insurance and financial companies

• providing important support in managing risks to reconcile security requirements with sustainability;

• offering tailor-based financing schemes (on a case-by-case basis).

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NEFCO, the Nordic Environmental Financing Company, supports SMEs in their innovative sustainable projects that are struggling with financing due to higher risk factors.

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 NIB, the Nordic Investment Bank, supports larger projects aligning with the green transition and accelerating renewable energy generation.

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Manufacturers

• creating new, more durable, easier-to-repair products from secondary materials as much as possible.

Wholesalers/retailers

• offering secondary materials and thus becoming "material banks";

• spreading knowledge among customers and other stakeholders on available secondary materials and circular solutions (e.g., prefabricated elements, elements adjusted to the required size by manufacturer).

Public authorities

• creating regulations enhancing circular construction;

• creating appropriate rules to include circular solutions relevant to public procurement.

Tenants/building users

• properly maintaining existing buildings;

• demanding circular solutions from service providers;

• keep an open mind, especially regarding secondary materials.

Sources and further reading:

1)    CIRCON project website.

2)    ING, Rethinking finance in a circular economy, 2015.

3)    ING, Circular construction - Most opportunities for demolishers and wholesalers, 2017.