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

Design teams

Insurance and financial companies

Manufacturers

Wholesalers/retailers

Public authorities

Tenants/building users

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.