Article

Calculation and evaluation of circularity indicators for the built environment using the case studies of UMAR and Madaster

September 2019
Journal of Cleaner Production 243(3):118482

DOI:10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.118482

Project: Circular Construction Lab

Authors:

Felix Heisel

Cornell University

Sabine Oberhuber

Turntoo

Understanding buildings as material depots radically changes the way resources need to be managed within the construction industry and the built environment. Similar to warehousing, buildings, cities and regions will have to keep track and anticipate the stocks and ﬂows of materials, needing to document and communicate (at the right moment) which materials in what quantities and qualities become available for re-use or recycling where and at what time in the future. This paper describes the process of doc-umenting materials and products utilized in the construction of the Urban Mining and Recycling (UMAR) unit within the Madaster platform. UMAR is a fully circular residential unit of Empa NEST created from secondary resources and designed as a material depot for future constructions. Madaster is an online platform, which generates and registers materials passports and calculates a Circularity Indicator for their construction, use, and end-of-life phases. The results of the calculations show that the UMAR unit is 96% circular. Constructed from 95% non-virgin and rapidly renewable materials, the unit has a utility rate of 98% and 92% of its materials are prepared to return into pure-type material cycles at the unit’s end of life. In combination, these two case studies provide a unique opportunity to evaluate the capabilities of materials passports and the Madaster Circularity Indicator to document material stocks and ﬂows within a circular built environment, and to assess the potential of circularity indicators as a design tool sup-porting the transition towards a circular construction industry. The continuous development of tools and systems for material cadastres undoubtedly represents a key prerequisite for the implementation of a paradigm shift towards a functioning circular construction industry.

Quel écosystème de données pour un passeport matériau BIM ? Revue de la littérature et perspectives pour de futures recherches

Article

Full-text available

Oct 2022

Dans un contexte environnemental en crise, le secteur de la construction est un important consommateur de matières premières et producteur de déchet. Il fait donc l’objet de diverses études et actions visant à le faire entrer dans une démarche d’économie circulaire. En particulier, les informations en lien avec les matériaux de construction sont cruciales tout au long du cycle de vie du bâtiment. La définition et le maintien de ces informations au travers de « passeports matériaux » (PM) présentent des opportunités riches et foisonnantes, en particulier en lien avec les pratiques du Building Information Modeling (BIM). Mais force est de constater que la définition de ces PM BIM et leur implémentation restent à leur début et rencontrent de nombreuses difficultés. Cet article propose une analyse de la littérature scientifique sur les PM BIM. On identifie les mises en oeuvre actuelles du PM BIM et leurs difficultés, mettant en avant l’importance d’interroger la structuration et le contenu du PM. Cet article identifie le potentiel mais aussi les possibles blocages de l’utilisation de PM BIM en vue de supporter la définition de futures directions de recherche.

Digitalization for a circular economy in the building industry: Multiple-case study of Dutch social housing organizations

Article

Full-text available

Aug 2022

Digital technologies are considered enablers of circular economy implementation in the built environment. Literature mainly focuses on conceptual or review studies examining the role of digital tools (e.g., material passport and building information modelling) to close the material loops. There is a lack of understanding of how digital technologies are implemented in real-life and whether they offer value to the industry actors. This study conducted a multiple-case study to collect empirical evidence from Dutch social housing organizations actively applying circular principles in new construction, renovation, maintenance, and demolition projects. Our findings suggest that artificial intelligence, digital twins, and scanning technologies support data collection, integration, and analysis for slowing the loops strategies (i.e., maintenance), while digital marketplaces facilitate material reuse, enabling narrowing and closing the loops. This study identified 12 challenges that hinder the broader adoption of digital technologies that are associated with the technological, cultural, market, and regulatory factors.

Implementation and evaluation of the circular economy model in the construction and demolition waste sector

Thesis

Dec 2021

Construction and demolition waste (CDW) is a major environmental concern that requires immediate attention. The large volumes of CDW produced and its associated environmental effects have led to explore new alternatives addressing this problem in more sustainable ways. In this context, the Circular Economy (CE) paradigm emerged as an innovative solution for creating more sustainable production and consumption patterns, fostering economic growth, and providing environmental protection and social welfare. At the global level, the concept of CE has gained increasing interest from government bodies, business organizations and academics. This has resulted in multiple political agendas including CE as a core driver, as well as an emerging trend of research exploring its concept and applications. However, because of the novelty and dynamism of the concept, research developments on practical applications and quantitative assessments are at an early stage. The main aim of this study was to propose an approach to integrate the CE concept in the construction and demolition sector, as well as providing the basis for evaluating the environmental and economic effects of circularity strategies and to monitor their implementation. For this purpose, an integrative framework of strategies for CE adoption in the CDW sector is proposed. This together with a methodological proposal to evaluate and compare the environmental and economic performance of different circularity alternatives incorporating multi-criteria decision analysis. In addition, this work proposes a system of indicators for measuring CE features for CDW products. The proposed framework identifies 14 influential strategies for the circularity of the CDW sector and describes their interaction throughout its lifecycle stages. The methodological proposal incorporates the Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) methodology to assess the environmental dimension., while the economic criteria adopt a complex cost method. The multicriteria VIKOR method was used to perform the multi-criteria analysis. The methodology is applied to evaluate the use of concrete waste in high-grade applications, specifically the production of structural and non-structural concrete mixes in the region of Catalonia, Spain. The indicators framework incorporates a systematic approach considering the most relevant factors and parameters for successful measurement of CE interventions. It consists of 22 measures within the three dimensions of environment, economic and innovation/materials. Preconstruction strategies are highlighted as the most influential in the circularity of the sector. CE strategies presented better environmental and economic performance; however, results are conditioned by the particular context of the study. Transportation and landfilling are identified as the most conditioning parameters affecting both environmental and economic performance.

How Can Digital Technologies Support the Circular Transition of Social Housing Organizations? Empirical Evidence from Two Cases

Conference Paper

Full-text available

Mar 2022

The world is facing an alarming housing crisis. The challenge for the construction industry is to find sustainable ways to meet this growing housing demand. The concept of Circular Economy could be an alternative approach as it aims to regenerate, narrow, slow, and close resources loops. Digital technologies are seen as enablers to implementing these looping strategies through their capabilities for managing information and supporting collaboration and new business model creation. In the built environment, many digital innovations have emerged that support the circular transition of the industry at various spatial scales. However, these innovations mainly focus on nano, micro, and macro scales and lack perspectives on the meso level (real estate portfolio). This research aims to understand how digital technologies can support circular strategies at the meso level by collecting empirical evidence from the European social housing organizations actively experimenting with circular strategies. We conducted a multiple-case study method and chose two cases from the UK and Belgium. We collected data through desk research and online group interviews. Our results indicate that housing organizations adopt a wide range of circular strategies for managing their housing portfolio. The support of digital technologies to perform the circularity is low. Our findings suggest five potentially enabling digital technologies at the meso level supporting the housing sector towards circularity: circular asset management tools, digital building logbooks, material passports, BIM, and collaboration tools.

The Role of Product Certification in the Transition towards the Circular Economy for the Construction Sector

Article

Jan 2022

The present study explores the environmental quality (natural and recycled content, recyclability, life cycle method) of a sample of certified construction products available in different database in Italy (Remade in Italy, Atlante dell’Economia Circolare, Observatory Recycle-Legambiente Report, Accredia). The results evidence the identification of a wide range of construction products with different certified recycled contents and Italian origin under the certification standard “Remade in Italy”. Moreover, 42% of the certified products rely on the use of LCA for the assessment of the environmental impacts, while 22% of certified products integrate the features of recycled content with the recyclability at the end-of-life. Overall, results show the role certifications may have in increasing the information available on products and their environmental quality, including their traceability in the reverse supply chain, becoming a potential driver for CE adoption and a wider development for such products.

Study Reviews and Rethinking the Key Processes for Managing Building Materials to Enhance the Circular Economy in the AEC Industry

Article

Full-text available

Sep 2022

The rapidly accelerating economic development of newly industrialised countries (NICs) has created far-reaching environmental problems. The new construction of numerous infrastructures and buildings, particularly in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry, has led to an exponential increase in the demand for raw materials and energy, which is leading to the depletion of natural resources. The approach to treating these buildings at the end of life has also raised concerns worldwide. Transforming the current linear development model into a circular economy is considered an effective solution. This paper reviews a broad range of relevant literature, extracting four key factors influencing building circularity (BC) from past studies. These factors are interpreted as four key processes dealing with building materials: pre-treatment, composition, decomposition, and post-treatment. We demonstrate how materials are treated throughout the building lifecycle to illustrate the interrelationships among these processes and to exemplify the potential of the key processes for effecting BC. Additionally, two examples are used to support the theoretical framework. This study intends to make contributions to circular economy theories and to provide references for policymakers and practitioners.

Assessment of sustainable use of material resources in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction industry - a conceptual Framework proposal for Austria

Article

Dec 2022

Circular economy in Architecture, Engineering, and Construction requires consideration in the design, deconstruction-planning, and waste management. This paper aims to develop a Framework to evaluate the material sustainability of buildings by comparing the proportionality of costs to environmental impacts of construction waste flows. Therefore, an extensive literature review was conducted to find parameters needed, such as building certification, life cycle assessment, or material passports. Next, a distillation process was conducted to reduce the large number of parameters found to be manageable. Following the applicable legislation, procedures to be carried out at different stages, from dismantling to recycling or treatment, were defined. Practical applications were derived, such as support for deconstruction management, resource management, and conclusions for planning. The final parameters were assigned to these processes. Due to a lack of data, data collection and public data provision are essential for applicability.

Triple-C: A Tridimensional Sustainability-Oriented Indicator for Assessing Product Circularity in Public Procurement

Article

Full-text available

Oct 2022

Various microlevel circular economy indicators for assessing sustainability and, partly, additional sustainability characteristics have been developed, but an integrated solution considering the environmental, social, and economic pillars remains a research gap. Method: Based on a multimethod approach, including surveys and the analysis of existing sustainability assessment methodologies and standards, this paper proposes a concept for a multidimensional circular economy indicator tailored to public procurers. It relies on attractive existing building blocks including: (1) the ecological scarcity method, (2) European and international sustainability standards and indicators, and (3) the STAR-ProBio-IAT concept. Results: This article presents the concept of the composite indicator Triple-C, consisting of 20 elements and aimed at facilitating sustainable circular public procurement. It is intended to be incorporated into software that facilitates sustainable product decisions among public procurers in Germany. Conclusions: We propose a generic indicator concept covering all three (environmental, social, and economic) sustainability pillars. More research and additional standards are needed to develop the Triple-C concept further into product-specific applications.

Towards circular cities: directions for a material passport ontology

Conference Paper

Full-text available

Jul 2022

Examining Knowledge Diffusion in the Circular Economy Domain: a Main Path Analysis

Article

Full-text available

Jul 2022

The circular economy (CE) field has recently attracted significant interest from academics and practitioners. CE represents a departure from the linear economy, which is characterised by unsustainable resource production and consumption. The growing number of publications necessitates a comprehensive analysis of this field. This is the first systematic examination of the knowledge base and knowledge diffusion pathways in the CE domain. We analyse a Web of Science dataset containing 5431 articles published between 1970 and 2020. To create a comprehensive review of the CE domain, we conducted a keyword co-occurrence network analysis. We examined four distinct types of main paths using the main path analysis (MPA) technique: forward, backward, global, and key-route. According to the analyses, CE research focuses on six primary research themes: CE and sustainability, bioeconomy, CE practices, lifecycle assessment and industrial symbiosis, construction activities, and waste management. In addition, the MPA demonstrates that the CE literature has recently focused on Industry 4.0 technologies and their contribution to CE. This is the first attempt to depict the genealogy of CE research so that scholars can comprehend the domain’s evolutionary structure, identify hot topics, and capture the history, development status, and potential future directions of CE research.

Recycling Potential Comparison of Mass Timber Constructions and Concrete Buildings: A Case Study in China

Article

Full-text available

May 2022

The recycling potential (RP) indicates the ability of building materials to form a closed-loop material flow, that is, the material efficiency during its whole life cycle. Mass timber constructions and concrete buildings vary widely in RP, but the differences are difficult to calculate. This paper proposed a level-based scheme to compare the RP of mass timber and concrete buildings, and a BIM-Eco2soft-MS Excel workflow coupling Material Cycle Database and digital design tools were established to obtain information on building materials, resource consumption, and environmental impact for the RP calculation. Taking a residential building as an example, the difference in RP between mass timber and concrete at the material-level is firstly discussed. Then at the component-level, the RP of the wood structure component and concrete component is compared, and the optimization methods are proposed. Finally, the difference in RP between the mass timber building and reinforced concrete building at the building-level are illustrated. The results show that the RP of mass timber building is higher, and the disassembly ability is better. Within a 100-year service life, the RP of mass timber buildings is 73% and that of the reinforced concrete building is 34%. The total amount of material consumption and waste of the Variant CLT is 837,030 kg and 267,237 kg respectively, which is less than one-third of that of concrete buildings (3,458,488 kg; 958,145 kg). The Global Warming potential (GWP) of these two variants is −174.0 kgCO2/m2 and 221.0 kgCO2/m2 separately, indicating that the Variant CLT can realize negative carbon emissions and gain ecological benefits. A sensitivity analysis is conducted to explore the potential impacts of certain parameters on GWP and RP of buildings. The research can provide the reference for material selection, component design, and RP optimization of mass timber buildings. In addition, new ideas for assessing the potential of circularity as a design tool are proposed to support the transition towards a circular construction industry and to realize carbon neutrality.

Measuring circularity: evaluation of the circularity of construction products using the ÖKOBAUDAT database

Article

Full-text available

Dec 2022

Background Owing to the large amounts of energy, greenhouse gases, and waste that it generates, the construction industry is fundamental to the transition towards a circular economy. Indicators which show the circularity of products—and thus make them comparable with each other—can be used to support the implementation of such an economy. In this article, we have adapted the material circularity indicator of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation in order to analyze the circularity of construction products available in the German environmental database ÖKOBAUDAT. Results The adapted indicator is applied to 89 building products from the categories of insulation materials, plastics, metals, and mineral building materials. More than half of the products receive the lowest score of 0.10, indicating poor implementation of circular strategies in the German construction industry to date. Conclusion Circular material flows are most likely to be employed for metals. However, the overall low circularity scores indicate a big need for better implementing circularity strategies.

Assessment of the circularity and carbon neutrality of an office building: The case of’t Centrum in Westerlo, Belgium

Article

Full-text available

Oct 2021

Circular building design is a concept that is gaining great interest from architects, construction professionals, and their clients but is still rarely adopted in practice. One of the earliest design decisions architects and developers should make to design a circular building is to determine the building’s construction system. The choice of constructive and structural systems, such as columns, beams, and slabs, is crucial to upgrade the reuse cycles in the future. Flexible construction systems can make it easier to dismantle the structures and recover, upgrade, modify, or transform building materials. Therefore, this paper assesses the carbon emission impacts of two construction systems for an office building in Belgium using life cycle assessment (LCA) and circularity criteria. One-Click LCA software was used for the calculations. Parametric analysis took place for two construction systems scenarios involving a steel structure and a timber structure. Life Cycle Assessment and comparisons of the various construction systems are made based on ISO 14040, 14044, and CEN/TC 350 standards with a focus on carbon neutrality. The results show that using local plant-based materials such as wood can drastically reduce office buildings’ carbon footprint. Based on the sensitivity analysis results, the overall global warming potential impact is mostly sensitive to the construction material’s weight and reuse and dismantling ability. This paper provides a better understanding of building structural systems; to inform architects about the circularity potential of different construction systems.

Building Circularity Assessment in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction Industry: A New Framework

Article

Full-text available

Nov 2021

Circular Economy (CE) has proved its contribution to addressing environmental impacts in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industries. Building Circularity (BC) assessment methods have been developed to measure the circularity of building projects. However, there still exists ambiguity and inconsistency in these methods. Based on the reviewed literature, this study proposes a new framework for BC assessment, including a material flow model, a Material Passport (MP), and a BC calculation method. The material flow model redefines the concept of BC assessment, containing three circularity cycles and five indicators. The BC MP defines the data needed for the assessment, and the BC calculation method provides the equations for building circularity scoring. The proposed framework offers a comprehensive basis to support a coherent and consistent implementation of CE in the AEC industry.

High-resolution combined building stock and building energy modeling to evaluate whole-life carbon emissions and saving potentials at the building and urban scale

Article

Feb 2022
RESOUR CONSERV RECY

As global and local actors seek to address climate concerns, municipalities, regions, and countries are developing policies for the built environment to reach carbon neutrality. In most cases, however, current policies target new construction and operational carbon emissions only, thus omitting the significant carbon emission saving potential resulting from the reactivation of embodied carbon in existing buildings. This article describes the development of a high-resolution combined building stock model (BSM) and building energy model (BEM) on both building and urban scale using all residential buildings of Ithaca, NY, USA as a case study. The model offers a holistic, detailed and local perspective on operational and embodied carbon emissions, associated saving potentials at both the building and urban scale, and the linkages, trade-offs and synergies between buildings and energy use as a basis for decision-making. A circular economy (CE) in construction posited on the reuse and recycling of existing building materials, necessitates a detailed material inventory of the current building stock. However, the scale and nature of this endeavor preclude traditional survey methods. The modeling process described in this article instead engages a bottom-up data aggregation and analysis approach that combines detailed construction archetypes (CAs) and publicly available, higher-level municipal geospatial data with building metadata defining occupancy and systems to create an autogenerated, detailed 3D geometry. The resulting BSM and BEM can simulate both embodied carbon content and operational carbon emissions of individual buildings within a municipal study with minimal required input data and a feasible computational effort. This provides modelers with a new spatial and geometric fidelity to simulate holistic renewal efforts, and inform carbon neutrality policies and incentives towards the decarbonization of the built environment.

Exploring the Principles of Design for Disassembly through Design-led Research

Article

Full-text available

Nov 2022

Philip Crowther

The construction industry is responsible for a significant portion of the solid waste that industrialised nations dispose of each year. One reason for this is the low rates of reuse and recycling, largely due to the difficulties in deconstructing buildings and an inability to easily separate materials and components. If buildings were designed to facilitate deconstruction and the easier separation of the parts, then future material and component recovery would be easier. Previous research into historic examples of deconstruction has identified numerous principles for design for disassembly. This paper presents research that expands on this understanding of design for disassembly though the application of these principles in architectural design projects. A methodology of ‘research through designing’ is implemented to explore the principles and assess their suitability for integration into mainstream construction practice. Several domestic scaled architectural projects were used to trial the principles and the overarching philosophy. This experimentation and research through creative practice, has confirmed the value of the principles of design for disassembly as strategies for the potential reduction of future demolition waste. Further to this, it has made explicit some of the otherwise unrealised consequences or constraints of designing for future disassembly.

Circular material passports for buildings – Providing a robust methodology for promoting circular buildings

Article

Full-text available

Dec 2022

The construction sector is responsible for about 50% of all extracted raw material and for over 35% of the EU’s total waste generation. To transition to a circular construction model, reliable and standardized information on the material composition of buildings is required. A Circular Material Passport (CMP) can organize and store such information. It provides an identity for a certain product and assigns value to it, enabling the recovery of materials by providing information for maintenance, recovery, reuse and recycling. A set of various CMPs can also be turned into a Building Materials Passport. This paper proposes a new structure for a CMP. The new CMP distinguishes itself from previous efforts to define material passports since it is aligned with the EU Level(s) framework of core sustainability indicators for office and residential buildings. This paper, firstly, reviews the relevant indicators from the Level(s) framework. Secondly, analyzes the current barriers in the development and use of material passports and proposes mitigation measure. Thirdly, identifies parameters to provide relevant information to promote circularity in the built environment. Fourthly, summarizes the findings and proposes a new structure for a lean CMP. The proposed CMP structure can be divided into three sections: 1) general data, 2) product context use and location, and 3) circularity potential. It can be concluded that indicators provided by the CMP could have the potential to be used for public procurement, as well as to define building permit criteria and assessment. Moreover, CMPs should be integrated with Building Information Modelling (BIM) and as a support tool for pre-demolition audits for identifying reusable and recyclable construction products and materials. The importance of policy development for the promotion of a standardized and regulated use of this tool needs to be highlighted.

The role of blockchain technology in the transition toward the circular economy: Findings from a systematic literature review

Article

Full-text available

Dec 2022

The circular economy (CE) has emerged as a paradigm to protect the environment and the well-being of future generations. In parallel, Blockchain technology (BC) has emerged as a critical enabler for accelerating the transition toward a CE. In order to understand and summarize prior research on the role of BC in the CE, we conducted a systematic literature review (SLR) of 70 seminal articles published before July 2022. Six main themes emerged: a) CE approaches and practices, b) BC and the integration of the Internet of Things (IoT), c) sustainable supply chain management, d) BC and the CE in the COVID-19 era, e) sector-specific BC applications, and f) barriers to BC adoption in the CE. Furthermore, we develop a comprehensive framework that integrates stakeholders, strategies and practices, industrial sectors and a BC-enabled CE.

How Circular is an Italian Apartment Building? Testing of a Whole-Building Circularity Indicator

Conference Paper

Full-text available

Sep 2022

Circular economy (CE), focused on closing the material loops, turns out to be relevant in the building industry to improve the construction process and reduce waste. Assessing the circular performance of buildings reveals the current level of achievement and future areas of improvement, hence aiding in transitioning from a linear to a CE based construction industry. However, this can be very complex, especially due to absence of a universally accepted Circularity Assessment Framework. Bearing that, a comprehensive CE assessment tool called Whole-Building Circularity Indicator (WBCI) is being developed at Engineering Department of University of Campania. This study tests and validates the first version of the freshly released WBCI using an existing apartment building in Southern Italy as a case study. The data is collected through building documents (detailed drawings, specifications) and site visits, and then modelled in BIM to perform a rigorous analysis. The results show that the apartment building does not perform well in circularity and scores very low (0.274). Excessive use of virgin materials, linear design approach, poor adaptability and disassembly potential after the end of life are the leading causes for this low score. The space plan turns out to be the most circular system among different building layers. The validation also uncovers the positives and negatives of the tested model. Finally, the study recommends practical strategies to improve the circular performance of residential buildings. With these advantages, this paper contributes to the much-anticipated debate on the measurement of CE in the building industry and can help construction practitioners estimate how advanced they are in the process of transition from linear to circular.

Circularity evaluation as guidance for building design

Article

Full-text available

Sep 2022

Resource scarcity and global warming call for ambitious strategies in the construction sector to meet the ever-growing demand for indoor spaces with minimal resource consumption and positive environmental impacts. In line with the need to introduce circular economy in the construction sector, the German Public Sustainability Certification System (BNB) is revising its indicator for disassembly, separation and reuse. The proposed assessment is intended to guide in the planning process and to point out challenges and potentials of the circular economy by making the complex interactions and requirements comprehensible in detail. The continuity of the assessment from the building material to the building component to the entire building allows users to track the impact of changes made at each level of aggregation. Based on extensive background research, end-of-life categories are assigned to building materials according to their reusability, taking into account assembly techniques and adjacent, associated materials. Example building components illustrate the method and show the impact of design changes. At the building level, the quantity determination of materials in the end-of-life condition allows transparent comparison of different design variants and documents in detail the material inventory for use in building material passports. Future developments envision the inclusion of building services in the circularity assessment, benchmarking of circularity at the building level, and integration of circular qualities into life cycle analysis calculations.

An experimental study on production opportunities of biocomposite by using fungal mycelium

Article

Full-text available

Aug 2022

Due to the adaptability, durability, and affordability of synthetic polymers, their usage has been increasing in the global industry. These petroleum-based polymers remain intact in nature for many years after they expire and cannot be included in the natural recycling network in any way. Producing polymers using fossil resources increasingly day by day threatens existing resources and affects the circular economy negatively. Considering the various negative effects of polymers on the environment, biopolymers could be seen as a strong alternative; which is a polymer group formed by living organisms such as plants, animals, and microorganisms. Ecological, low-emission, and recyclable biopolymers open up new and a broad range of topics in the field. Composite materials created with these biopolymer materials that act as natural adhesives; have different developing areas of applications such as packaging industry, textile, furniture, and industrial design sectors, architectural designs, and structural insulation materials. Fungal mycelium, a biopolymer, consists of fibrous filaments called hyphae, which can be defined as elongated cells, mainly composed of chitin, glucan, and proteins. The ability of fungal mycelium to digest and grow through organic matter makes it possible to produce biocomposites from mycelium. Mycelium-based composites are mixed with fungal mycelium, forming an interpenetrating three-dimensional filamentous network that binds the raw material to the material, and after completing the growth period, the mycelium growth is stopped by heat, thus offering an alternating fabrication paradigm based on the growth of materials. In this study, firstly, it was tried to find the most efficient ratio among different mixing ratios by using the mycelium of the genus Pleurotus Ostreatus and the same raw materials. Afterward, it was aimed to investigate the mechanical and physical properties through experimental studies, especially the production process, of mycelium-based composites formed by mixing different raw materials in determining proportions.

The transition to the circular economy of the construction industry: Insights into sustainable approaches to improve the understanding

Article

Jun 2022
J CLEAN PROD

In the context of shifting the built environment to a circular economy, this paper first provides a meta-synthesis of the literature that clarifies the strategies related to the asset lifecycle in the circular economy (CE) context. The definitions of forty-two approaches, classified into seven categories (A to G) were analysed to identify their differences and similarities using a text mining method. Based on the definitions, approaches’, their needs and requirements, and their benefits and impacts have been listed. Four variables have been identified: the asset phases (V1), the sustainable approaches (V2), the benefits and impacts (V3) and the needs and requirements (V4). As the main contribution to knowledge, two diagrams have been drawn to picture the relationships between, first, V1, V2 and V3 and secondly V1, V2 and V4. An additional contribution is semantic information captured and drawn in a Force Directed Graph (FDG) to clarify the diversity of existing approaches and their relationships. More than a hundred approaches/concepts are staged in a diagram and their links are identified. Particularly the importance of the design phase and its related approaches are developed. The FDG illustrates the complexity of the building projects involving multiple stakeholders. The paper also provides the limitations of the variety of approaches that should be overcome to achieve CE. In particular, the limitations of reuse (components cannot be reused indefinitely) and limitations of design-only approaches (like prefabrication where deconstruction is not prepared). Further research is recommended about the Product Service Systems associated with Extended Producer Responsibility that appears to be key enablers for the CE. Work is also needed to define the circularity of buildings and the associated circularity assessment tools. The outputs could be used to rationalise policies to foster those approaches to enable the construction sector to develop strategies to overcome the current obstacles to the transition to a circular economy.

Challenges and Opportunities in Scaling up Architectural Applications of Mycelium-Based Materials with Digital Fabrication

Article

Full-text available

Apr 2022

In an increasing effort to address the environmental challenges caused by the currently linear economic paradigm of “produce, use, and discard”, the construction industry has been shifting towards a more circular model. A circular economy requires closing of the loops, where the end-of-life of a building is considered more carefully, and waste is used as a resource. In comparison to traditional building materials such as timber, steel and concrete, mycelium-based materials are renewable alternatives that use organic agricultural and industrial waste as a key ingredient for production, and do not rely on mass extraction or exploitation of valuable finite or non-finite resources. Mycelium-based materials have shown their potential as a more circular and economically competitive alternative to conventional synthetic materials in numerous industries ranging from packaging, electronic prototyping, furniture, fashion to architecture. However, application of mycelium-based materials in the construction industry has been limited to small-scale prototypes and architectural installations due to low mechanical properties, lack of standardisation in production methods and material characterisation. This paper aims to review the current state of the art in research and applications of mycelium-based materials across disciplines, with a particular focus on digital methods of fabrication, production, and design. The information gathered from this review will be synthesised to identify key challenges in scaling up applications of mycelium-based materials as load-bearing structural elements in architecture and suggest opportunities and directions for future research.

A Conceptual Framework for a Digital Circular Built Environment: The Data Pipeline, Passport Generator, and Passport Pool

Conference Paper

Full-text available

Mar 2022

This article proposes a conceptual model to address the structural holes in data sharing between (and beyond) actors in the circular built environment supply chain and monitoring circular economy progress. Current digital innovations such as material passports and Building Information Modelling applications aim at increasing quality and availability of information about materials and their application in buildings to facilitate future reuse or recycling, based on the idea of buildings-as-material-banks. Although these approaches offer great potential to recover value from building materials, they mainly focus on a single building and have a limited capacity to exchange data with other supply chain actors in a timely manner. In this article, we argue that there is a need for an integrated digital infrastructure that expands beyond the industries and countries for enabling a connected global circular economy. Therefore, this article proposes an initial conceptualization of a digital infrastructure towards achieving a circular built environment. The proposed model puts forward three interoperable components: The Data Pipeline, Passport Generator, and Passport Pool, based on emerging technologies such as blockchain technology, the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence.

Sustainable Digital Market Design: A Data-Based Approach to the Circular Economy

Technical Report

Full-text available

Mar 2022

The European Union is currently making great regulatory efforts to shape digital markets. Yet despite existential pressures from environmental crises, little attention is being paid to sustainability goals. In this paper, we argue that the design of digital markets holds great potential for an environmental transformation of the economy. Therefore, we combine the market design approach with the circular economy concept to highlight the need for new market rules that focus on the environmental governance of data. The focus is on product-related data that can help connect material and product flows and create new collaborative ecosystems. We present a policy framework that includes the specific selection criteria for relevant data sets at each level of the product life cycle. We conclude with concrete suggestions on how sustainable digital market design can be implemented in upcoming EU policy initiatives to increase product transparency and enable systematic digital tracking of goods and materials for a circular economy.

A Parametric Approach to Optimizing Building Construction Systems and Carbon Footprint: A Case Study Inspired by Circularity Principles

Article

Full-text available

Mar 2022

There is a global call for a paradigm shift in the construction industry towards carbon neutrality, but a scant effort has been made in practice, especially concerning circularity. This paper helps bridge the gap by introducing a parametric approach to optimize sustainable construction design. The methodology was tested on a newly constructed office building, inspired by circularity principles, in Westerlo, Belgium. The methodology consists of parametric construction-typological analysis, automated through One Click LCA software (Life Cycle Assessment) and Microsoft Excel with 21 alternate designs and 630 iterations. The parametric variations involved three key performance indicators: construction system, materials' environmental impact, and materials; reuse of content. The environmental effects of both construction systems (i.e., structural system, foundation type, materials, and envelope details) and reused building materials content (i.e.,) were evaluated by the parametric analysis for four construction systems scenarios. Environmental impact analysis for timber, steel, concrete, and hybrid construction systems was conducted, following ISO 14040 and CEN/TC 350 standards. The focus of the whole life cycle assessment was mainly on carbon neutrality. Results indicate that using local biosourced materials, including timber, can remarkably reduce buildings' environmental impact. The sensitivity analysis results provide hard evidence that the construction material's weight, materials reuse potential, and construction dismantling ability are the most influential factors in carbon-neutral buildings. This paper should improve profession-als' understanding of the impact of different structural systems choices and inform building designers about the circularity potential, and carbon footprint of construction technologies.

Combining circular and LCA indicators for the early design of urban projects

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2022
INT J LIFE CYCLE ASS

PurposeThe built environment is a key sector for the transition towards a so-called circular economy, contributing to solve the global environmental challenges humanity is facing. As buildings interact with other sectors like transport and energy, a systemic approach is needed to assess the environmental relevance of circular economy practices. The purpose of this study is to develop and test an approach for the evaluation of overall environmental performance of urban projects.Methods Combining Material Flow Analysis (MFA), the Material Circularity Indicator (MCI), and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) indicators allows for relating means (material recovery) and performance (protection of human health, biodiversity, and resources).Results and discussionThis study shows the ability of LCA to evaluate circular economy practices at the scale of an urban project. It also highlights LCA’s limitations and shows that research is needed to improve resource depletion evaluation and biogenic carbon accounting in eco-design LCA tools. Results show that at the project scale, the MCI, one of the major circular indicators in use today, and MFA provide interesting information complementary to LCA but do not successfully evaluate the environmental performance of circular practices.Conclusions Circularity indicators are complementary to LCA indicators and should not replace them in the eco-design process. Rather than setting circularity targets for a project, it is advisable to set environmental targets so that designers use circularity combined with other means to reach these targets in a systemic way. The choice and implementation of environmentally sound circular actions and strategies are at stake.

A comparative analysis of quantification and validation methods for prospecting the anthropogenic mine as material reserve for circular construction

Article

Full-text available

Nov 2021

Globally, buildings account for at least 39% of CO 2 emissions and more than 50% of resource extraction and solid waste production. Therefore, any transition to carbon neutral buildings must be paired with new resource sensibilities and a shift from linear models of material consumption to continuous material use within a circular economy. Prospecting the (urban) anthropogenic mine represents an essential step towards circular construction and requires a robust methodology for data collection and interpretation. This paper presents a comparative analysis of survey methods, evaluated by parameters of time, accuracy, equipment, and labor to determine the ability of each tool in providing the necessary data to activate the existing built environment as a material resource. Chosen methods span from on-site manual and analog surveys to off-site digital technologies on a variety of case study scales. In all cases, the output’s data format (sketch book, images, mesh or point cloud outputs) can be cumbersome to process with CAD and BIM software, increasing time to results and limiting the technology’s potential, introducing the call for a new generation of survey tools specifically addressing the needs of deconstruction and salvage in circular construction.

Design for Product Circularity: Circular Economy Indicators With Tools Mapped Along the Engineering Design Process

Conference Paper

Aug 2021

Monitoring the circularity potential of products and materials is key to ensure environmental savings and economic profitability of circular economy loops, such as reuse, remanufacturing, or recycling. The choices and decisions made during the product design phase have a major influence and impact on the circularity performance of products. While numerous indicators and tools have been recently developed to assess, manage, and accelerate the transition to a more circular economy, their application and usability during the early design phases of products are often overlooked. Based on a screening of several tens of circular economy indicators, the present research work identified twelve product-centric circularity indicators, each of them coming with a computational tool, to be deployed during the design process in order to improve the circularity potential of products. To help designers and engineers selecting the appropriate solution, these circularity indicators and tools are positioned on a generic five-step design process, namely: requirements definition, conceptual design, detailed design, designs comparison, product monitoring and communication. Concrete examples are given on how these indicators and their assessment framework can support the design of more circular products. Current shortcomings of available approaches are finally highlighted and discussed (such as the lack of c-indicators for the detailed design phase or linkage with computer-aided design software) for an augmented integration of such promising circularity indicators and their associated tools within the design and development process of products.

No more flat tires: Overcoming data defects to achieve supply chain resilience

Article

Nov 2021

A reliable functioning of supply chains depends on the availability of required raw materials for the manufacturing of products. With increasing scarcity of various raw materials supply chains face serious disruptions. Therefore, recycling comes into stronger focus as a secondary source for raw materials as a solution to ensure supply. This paper explores the compelling case of tires and the challenges to the resilience of its supply chain due to data defects. The role and the value of data to enable resilience in supply chains is highlighted. As main contribution the paper explores potential information technologies such as digital twins and blockchain to avoid the data gaps in the supply chain such that the recycling loop for natural rubber from scrap tires can be completed regardless of the challenges posed by company secrets.

Recycling Thermal Insulation Materials: A Case Study on More Circular Management of Expanded Polystyrene and Stonewool in Switzerland and Research Agenda

Article

Full-text available

Oct 2021

The limits to linear models of production based on material extraction, manufacture, use, and disposal are becoming increasingly apparent across the global economy. The Circular Economy (CE) describes an alternative to this problematic “take-make-waste” linear model that is concerned with resource efficiency and waste minimization. The construction and demolition sector represents an important focus for a CE transition due to its significant environmental impact. The use of thermal insulation to reduce energy demand associated with heating and cooling in buildings is vital for reducing the sector’s high environmental impact; however, there are significant challenges to recycling thermal insulation materials (IM). This study examines these challenges in the context of Switzerland and evaluates the potential for more circular management of expanded polystyrene and stonewool IM. The research provides an original analysis of the Swiss IM value chain in the context of the CE agenda based on a literature review, semi-structured interviews, and a workshop. Research gaps are highlighted based on scientific literature. The roles and agency of actors involved in the Swiss IM value chain are examined. Enablers of and barriers to wider IM recycling as reported by workshop participants are outlined. Interventions for tackling the current challenges faced for the recycling of thermal IM are suggested. Finally, an agenda for future research is proposed. Throughout the discussion, the importance of the involvement, commitment, and collaboration of stakeholders across the entire IM value chain for an effective and expedient transition to a CE is highlighted.

An Open Data Platform for Early-Stage Building Circularity Assessment

Conference Paper

Full-text available

Oct 2021

The construction industry is a significant source of pollution and consumer of natural resources. As the damage to the environment is rapidly growing, the criticism towards the linear economy model is increasing. Circular Economy is perceived as an environmentally friendly alternative. However, Circular Economy implementation in the industry is still in its infancy. Researchers agree that the early design phase plays a significant role in building circularity, but early-stage circularity assessment is not a common practice. Therefore, this paper investigates the technical needs for early circularity assessment and proposes a novel assessment framework relying on Semantic Web and Linked Building Data technologies. A new Building Circularity Assessment Ontology (BCAO) is proposed to structure the scattered heterogenous manufacturer product data needed for the assessment. The ontology and the application framework are evaluated in a use case that reveals the potential in guiding the design decisions to more circular alternatives.

Mining the Built Environment: Telling the Story of Urban Mining

Article

Full-text available

Sep 2021

Materials are continuously accumulating in the human-built environment since massive amounts of materials are required for building, developing, and maintaining cities. At the end of their life cycles, these materials are considered valuable sources of secondary materials. The increasing construction and demolition waste released from aging stock each year make up the heaviest, most voluminous waste outflow, presenting challenges and opportunities. These material stocks should be utilized and exploited since the reuse and recycling of construction materials would positively impact the natural environment and resource efficiency, leading to sustainable cities within a grander scheme of a circular economy. The exploitation of material stock is known as urban mining. In order to make these materials accessible for future mining, material quantities need to be estimated and extrapolated to regional levels. This demanding task requires a vast knowledge of the existing building stock, which can only be obtained through labor-intensive, time-consuming methodologies or new technologies, such as building information modeling (BIM), geographic information systems (GISs), artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning. This review paper gives a general overview of the literature body and tracks the evolution of this research field.

Élaboration et évaluation de stratégies territorialisées de valorisation des matériaux de deuxième vie par le design.

Thesis

Sep 2022

Baptiste Menu

La structuration progressive des activités industrielles à l’échelle mondiale a entraîné dans son sillage une construction de filières de recyclage des matériaux basées sur un retour à l’état de matière pouvant être directement réintroduite dans des chaînes techniques de production standardisées. Cette standardisation garantissant ainsi des objectifs de quantité élevée de recirculation de matière. Cependant, ce processus bien établi soulève des enjeux importants : la transformation rapide jusqu’à l’état matière contribue à dégrader les propriétés, les qualités et les valeurs contenues dans les produits en circulation et requiert d’importantes consommations énergétiques pour les transporter et les transformer. A contre-courant des démarches de standardisation, cette thèse propose de repenser les filières de recirculation des matières de seconde vie par une démarche de création divergente dès les premières étapes de conception, proposant alors à un territoire une diversité de cycles de circulation de matières complémentaires œuvrant en synergie. Ainsi, dans cette thèse des outils opérationnels sont développés au service des entreprises d’un territoire pour permettre le diagnostic de l’état de circulation de leurs matières entrantes et sortantes (en particulier les matières répertoriées comme « déchet »), l’analyse et le développement de nouvelles pistes de circulation de matières à l’aide d’outils d’aide à la créativité et enfin l’évaluation de ces pistes à l’aide d’indicateurs de performance. Les outils développés sont testés dans le cadre d’un cas d’étude relatif à la circulation des livres de seconde vie.

Framework for the assessment of the existing building stock through BIM and GIS

Article

Dec 2022

With 60% of the world's raw materials extraction, the construction sector is the largest consumer of raw materials. The consumption can be reduced through reuse and recycling of building materials which reached their end-of-life; however, there is lack of information on the building stock. This paper presents a bottom-up approach based on Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Geographic Information System (GIS) to assess material quantities. To test this approach, a real-world building is used. The material intensity is calculated based on existing planning documentations, on-site investigations, laser scanning and a BIM-model. The gross volumes (GVs) obtained from GIS enable the modelling and prediction of cities' building stocks. The results of this paper demonstrate the method of calculating material intensities and present how the applied method can be used to predict building stocks. The latter is presented as a framework which can support various cities in assessing their material stock.

Kreislaufwirtschaft bei WeberHaus

Thesis

Full-text available

Jan 2022

Frederik Schölch

Ein Wandel weg von der linearen und hin zu einer Kreislaufwirtschaft, wie man ihn bereits in verschiedenen Bereichen erkennen kann, hat positive Auswirkungen auf das Klima und die Umwelt. Die Baubranche könnte durch ihre hohe Ressourcen- und Energieintensität ein wichtiger Beitrag zur Klima- und Umweltschonung durch Kreislaufpraktiken leisten. Im Fokus sollte nicht mehr nur eine effiziente Gebäudehülle stehen, sondern eine ganzheitliche Nachhaltigkeitsbetrachtung. Aufgrund mangelnden Bewusstseins, fehlender rechtlicher Rahmenbedingungen, Organisationen, Softwaretools und fehlender Anreize durch Förderungen oder Geschäftsmodelle kann und wird eine ganzheitliche Kreislaufwirtschaft derzeit noch nicht in der Baubranche umgesetzt. Ein weiterer bedeutsamer Grund sind fehlende Materialpässe und deren Umsetzungsmöglichkeiten in der Praxis. Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es, die Lücke zwischen den Anforderungen an Materialpässe und deren Umsetzung in der Praxis, speziell für WeberHaus und somit den Holz-Fertighausbau, frühzeitig zu schließen. Durch Experteninterviews werden der Ist-Zustand des Material- und Informationsflusses beschrieben und gleichzeitig die Themen Kreislaufwirtschaft, Rückverfolgung und Materialpässe mit den Mitarbeitern diskutiert und nähergebracht. Aus dem Ist- Zustand des Material- und Informationsflusses werden Möglichkeiten einer Umsetzung in Form von zwei Varianten für Materialpässe geliefert, welche die zuvor festgelegten Anforderungen erfüllen. Zur Beschreibung des Materialflusses hat es sich als sinnvoll erwiesen, eine Einteilung des gesamten Unternehmens auf Gebäude- und Elementebene vorzunehmen. Der Informationsfluss wird für den Materialpass hauptsächlich durch die vorhandenen Softwaresysteme Bentley, Dietrich´s, SAP und WeKo bestimmt. Um die Anforderungen, die an die Materialpässe gestellt werden, bestmöglich und mit geringem Aufwand erfüllen zu können, stellt sich BIM in Kombination mit der Plattform Madaster als sinnvolles Instrument heraus. Hierzu sind jedoch aufwendige Fachmodelle oder ein Koordinationsmodell nötig, welche von WeberHaus noch nicht vollständig realisiert werden. Als Übergangslösung bietet sich ein Materialpass auf Elementebene an, der durch diese Betrachtung standardisiert und ergänzt werden kann. Eine Ergänzung dieser Variante durch QR-Codes bietet zusätzlich eine direkte Verknüpfung von Informationen mit Bauteilen.

Material Classification and Reuse Framework Based on the Reverse Dismantling of Architectural Design: A Case Study in TCCLab

Article

Full-text available

Nov 2022

After natural resources are mined, they are stored in cities in the form of urban minerals through the construction of buildings. However, buildings have many negative impacts on nature from the time they are constructed and used to the end of their life cycles when they are demolished and discarded. At present, many researchers have conducted research on the recycling of buildings, including the whole life cycle of buildings, the value assessment of the construction waste, the recycling boundary of the construction waste, and the way building waste could be reused. These studies all need to discuss the types of construction waste and their total volume. Urban mining uses GIS data (top-down) and the same type of building material per unit area (bottom-up) to provide a broad calculation method for the construction waste, but it fails to accurately obtain the exact amount of each material of the building. From the perspective of architectural design, the same type of buildings tend to have different spaces and structures due to factors such as the site, orientation, and function. These all affect the way construction waste is reused. This paper aims to create a framework for the reuse of construction waste to improve the accuracy and diversity of the reuse of construction waste in the future. The main purpose of this article is to provide a more accurate assessment of the material which is contained in a building. Using a 48-year-old office building in the Taiwan Contemporary Culture Laboratory (TCCLab) as the research case study, the paper compares the data calculated by different methods and verifies the difference between the bottom-up and the disassembly classification method proposed in this study. According to the architectural design principles, the authors first carried out a 3D digital modeling of the office building (including the building structure) using a forward construction sequence and then they proposed the framework of the material classification and the reuse of the reinforced concrete (RC) of the office building using the method of reverse disassembly, hoping to provide a reference for the reuse of construction waste.

sustainability-14-11951

Article

Full-text available

Sep 2022

The diffusion of sustainable products is a global objective, particularly reflected by the UN’s vision of ensuring sustainable development. Mobilising the potential of product information’s digitalization is an important topic in this context, particularly in the EU’s circular economy plan CEAP. Cross-sector analyses on the need for digital sustainability recommendation systems and related product-specific requirements do not yet exist. Questions: This article aims to deepen the insight of information requirements and recommendation software to facilitate sustainability-oriented product decisions based on three questions: (1) to identify products specifically requiring four types of sustainability information, (2) to unveil needs for software that recommends sustainable products, and (3) to specify the information it shall provide. Method: As part of the ConCirMy recommendation system project, we conducted an exploratory survey among 134 sustainability experts from 5 circular and bio-economy networks, mainly from Germany. The results show priority products regarding four sustainability information needs and recommendation software, making specific relations between European regulation and stakeholders’ interests visible. In addition, ten factors influencing these needs and facilitating further product-related sustainability classifications were unveiled. Conclusions: Our findings reflect the significance of CEAP’s priority products regarding the need for sustainability information and provide conclusions for four target groups.

Industry 4.0 and the circular economy: using design-stage digital technology to reduce construction waste

Article

Sep 2022

Purpose This study examines how applying innovative I4.0 technologies at the design stage can help reduce construction waste and improve the recovery, reuse, and recycling of construction materials. Design/methodology/approach The study adopts a three-stage sequential mixed methods approach, involving a thorough review of current literature, interviews with six experts in digital construction, and a survey of 75 experienced industry practitioners. Findings The study identifies and discusses how ten specific digital technologies can improve design stage processes leading to improved circularity in construction, namely, (1) additive and robotic manufacturing; (2) artificial intelligence; (3) big data analytics; (4) blockchain technology; (5) building information modelling; (6) digital platforms; (7) digital twins; (8) geographic information systems; (9) material passports and databases; and (10) Internet of things. It demonstrates that by using these technologies to support circular design concepts within the sector, material recycling rates can be improved and unnecessary construction waste reduced. Practical implications This research provides researchers and practitioners with improved understanding of the potential of digital technology to recycle construction waste at the design stage, and may be used to create an implementation roadmap to assist designers in finding tools and identifying them. Originality/value Little consideration has been given to how digital technology can support design stage measures to reduce construction waste. This study fills a gap in knowledge of a fast-moving topic.

Kreislauffähige Konzepte im Bauwesen – Gebäude als Materialdepots

Chapter

Jan 2022

Kim Hannah Gülck

Critical review of nano and micro-level building circularity indicators and frameworks

Article

Apr 2022
J CLEAN PROD

The circular economy (CE) paradigm can eradicate the problems caused by the traditional linear economic approach adopted by the building industry. But the efforts to implement CE in the building and construction industry are fragmented and lack consensus. If improved, the ability to measure and report on progress can help in effectively transiting to CE. In this regard, wide-ranging building circularity indicators (C-indicators) have been proposed. However, the extant literature highlights that the comprehensive research on existing CE assessment tools in the building industry is still lacking, while policymakers (e.g., European Commission) and standards (e.g., ISO) have emphasized the need for a universally recognized circularity framework for buildings. To help this cause, this review inventories and critically analyzes 35 existing tools through an extended systematic literature review of 51 carefully selected documents from both academic and grey literature. It is found that there is a sharp increase in publications in recent years, with Europe leading the way. Along with the academic community, government agencies and consulting companies have also developed several C-indicators. The content analysis suggests that most indicators are quantitative and can vary in terms of the scale of application, the adopted CE scope and definition, and the underlying key performance indicators (KPIs). The descriptive analysis reveals that most indicators are in the developing stage and substantially stress recycling and reuse, overlooking some important aspects like energy, emission, and water. Innovative technical solutions like the design for adaptability and disassembly are excessively used to measure the circular potential of structures. The existing sustainability and circularity tools are seen as a good starting point for developing new frameworks. This extensive review and critical analysis provide a synthesis and explanation of the developing research theme of building C-indicators and highlight the remaining key challenges. The findings can drive the standardization of a universally accepted framework.

Facilitating a transition to circular economy in construction projects: Intermediate theoretical models based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour

Article

Apr 2022
BUILD RES INF

A transition to circular economy (CE) is a sociotechnical phenomenon that relies on adopting innovative methods and technologies, as well as changes in behaviour across the construction supply chain. Although a lot of ground has been covered on developing methods and technologies, there is little research on stakeholders’ change of behaviour. Informed by underlying framework, the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), a comprehensive literature review discusses several conceptual models to establish the interrelationships between barriers and drivers to managing a transition to CE – and their underlying causes. The findings offer a comprehensive point of reference for identifying factors that affect CE adoption, and lay a solid foundation for future research into CE adoption and managing a CE transition where the intermediate theories presented can be validated through empirical research.

After Construction, inevitably comes de-construction

Chapter

Full-text available

Mar 2022

Felix Heisel

Supporting construction stakeholders with the circular economy: A trans-scaler framework to understand the holistic approach

Article

Full-text available

Mar 2022

Rabia Charef

Although the construction sector is one of the least digitized sectors, the last decade has been a period that some qualify as the 4th industrial revolution, notably with the adoption of Building Information Modelling (BIM). However, the construction industry is still one of the most resource-intensive sectors, generating Megatons of waste every year. To decrease the impact of the construction on the environment, authorities are getting interested in adopting a circular economy (CE) approach, including servitization. Although there is an emulsion around the circular economy approach, organisational tools to help construction practitioners to move to a CE approach are dramatically lacking. The purpose of the paper is to develop a BIM-based trans-scalar theoretical frame work to support practitioners in their understanding and the implementation of the CE approach. The trans-scalar theoretical framework is established with data extracted from a research portfolio fuelled by three main databases, Scopus, RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) Plan of Work and BIM standards. First, the RIBA framework and the information delivery cycle were adjusted to incorporate the sustainable end-of-life, as a phase in the CE context. Based on theoretical foundations, the main contribution of this paper is the trans-scalar theoretical framework developing and clarifying what are the main asset lifecycle phases (including the end-of-life), their related stakeholders, and the interplays between them, in the UK context. The paper also organizes holistically two scales, the asset lifecycle phases and the material flow, whether new or recovered, in the context of BIM and CE. Some future areas of research are presented, including how the BIM-based trans-scalar theoretical framework could be improved with inputs from construction experts.

"Non-Fungible Building Components: Using Smart Contracts for a Circular Economy in the Built Environment"

Conference Paper

Full-text available

Dec 2021

The presented research study tackles the topic of economic and material sustainable development in the built environment and construction industry by introducing and applying the concept and the potential of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) on blockchain within the early stages of the design process via the interface of common design software. We present a digital infrastructure layer for architectural assets and building components that can integrate with AEC supply chains, enabling a more effective and articulated development of circular economies. The infrastructure layer consists of a combination of topology graphs secured with a blockchain. The paper concludes with a discussion about the possibilities of material passports as well as circular economy and smart contracts as an infrastructure for whole lifecycle BIM and digital encapsulation of value in architectural design.

Circular economy in facades

Chapter

Jan 2022

This chapter introduces circular economy (CE) as a central part of the rethinking building skins for a sustainable development of the Anthropocene. Successful transition to CE in facades will require new design processes, new construction methods, new systems of logistics and supply chains and new business models. Building skins constitute a complex part of architecture, which affects—and is affected by—a range of disciplines and many different parts of the value chain. Moreover, facades have a relatively limited service life compared with the main structure. It is, therefore, challenging but potentially very important to resolve CE in facades with a view to transitioning from the take–make–waste mindset to one of reduce–reuse–recycle. The chapter describes the challenges and sets out the opportunities for a rethinking of processes made possible by a new mindset and technological progress.

THE ecodesign methodologies to achieve buildings’ deconstruction: A REVIEW AND FRAMEWORK

Article

Dec 2021

The ecodesign methodologies in the design stage enable buildings to be adapted to the needs of users and deconstructed at the end-of-life. Although ecodesign methods incorporate circular economy (CE) principles, they are little explored in projects and constructions. This study analyses how the construction sector approaches ecodesign methods to achieve buildings' deconstruction. Through an integrative literature review, 288 articles were threefold analyzed: i) bibliometric, ii) conceptually about ecodesign methods, and iii) categorically. The results showed a lack of understanding about the ecodesign concepts, and an integrated methodology was proposed. The most inclusive and sustainable ecodesign method for buildings deconstruction was Design for Adaptability and Disassembly (DfAD). The review shows the concentration of the studies in three categories and a framework was created relating DfAD strategies. The sector needs more information on ecodesign methods, deconstruction strategies, reusing of materials, and in the life cycle tools as decision support to make sustainable buildings.

Policy instruments for circular built environment implementation: A systematic literature review

Article

Full-text available

Oct 2021

Felipe Bucci Ancapi

The built environment (BE) is of fundamental importance in the transition towards circular economy (CE), for it concentrates major consuming and polluting human activities. CE in the BE research has rapidly increased in recent years. However, aspects concerning its policy-making and -implementation, governance, and management are acknowledged to be widely over-looked. Such context may jeopardize effective implementation of circular built environments (CBE). In this article, I conduct a systematic literature review to characterize the relation between circular built environments and the policy instruments suggested for its implementation. Results show that only 7% of publications address policy and instruments for CBE implementation. Yet, identified publications seem to cover a wide variety of policy instruments according to prevailing classifications. Finally, operationalized concepts in publications mostly relate to technological aspects of CBE implementation, which calls for increasing research efforts over systemic challenges in governance, and policy integration and coherence.

No more flat tires: Overcoming data defects to achieve supply chain resilience

Conference Paper

Jun 2021

An analytical review on application of life cycle assessment in circular economy for built environment

Article

Sep 2021

Built environment, also referred to as the product of construction industry, has exerted tremendous impact on the natural environment. Circular economy aims to decouple the environmental burden from economic growth and promotes a circular built environment. Adopting life cycle assessment in circular economy can avoid extra environmental impact due to increased circularity. This paper intends to analytically review the applications of life cycle assessment in circular economy for the built environment. The necessity of incorporating life cycle assessment in circular economy is highlighted. It is found in the review that adoption of life cycle assessment enhances the comprehensiveness and transparency of circular economy implementation in the built environment. To overcome the inherent limitations of life cycle assessment methods that hinder their applications in circular economy, practitioners need to constantly improve the consistency of functional unit and system boundary, the accessibility and quality of life cycle inventory data as well as the reliability of impact allocation methods. It is also found that dynamic life cycle assessment that considers the time factor can increase the applicability of life cycle assessment in circular economy. The main contribution of this review is a proposal for the transition of the built environment towards a circular and sustainable future.

Prototypology for a circular building industry: the potential of re-used and recycled building materials

Article

Full-text available

Sep 2019

The growing scarcity of resources calls for a paradigm shift from linear material consumption to circular economy – especially in the construction industry. This shift involves a complete rethinking of design principles, materials, construction technics and technologies, as well as the introduction of new business models evolving from these reconfigurations within the field. This paper will show on-going research on these themes with a focus on direct material re-use and recycling through the discussion of a prototypology –the recently concluded Mehr.WERT.Pavillon (MWP) at the BUGA 2019 in Heilbronn. The research specifically addresses a reversible, mono-material structure that is made from re-used structural steel and recycled glass. The concept of cycles therefor is significant: Utilized materials are not consumed and disposed of; instead, they are borrowed from their material cycle for a certain period of time and later returned there at equal value and utility. Sourced from recycled materials, the prototypology is a built example of urban mining; designed for disassembly at the end of its service time, it also represents a material bank for future projects – while proofing the claim, that it is possible already today to build within a circular system.

Pioneering Construction Materials through Prototypological Research

Article

Full-text available

Aug 2019
Biomimetics

The article at hand follows the understanding that future cities cannot be built the same way as existing ones, inducing a radical paradigm shift in how we produce and use materials for the construction of our habitat in the 21st century. In search of a methodology for an integrated, holistic, and interdisciplinary development of such new materials and construction technologies, the chair of Sustainable Construction at KIT Karlsruhe proposes the concept of “prototypological” research. Coined through joining the terms “prototype” and “typology”, prototypology represents a full-scale application, that is an experiment and proof in itself to effectively and holistically discover all connected aspects and address unknowns of a specific question, yet at the same time is part of a bigger and systematic test series of such different typologies with similar characteristics, yet varying parameters. The second part of the article applies this method to the research on mycelium-bound building materials, and specifically to the four prototypologies MycoTree, UMAR, Rumah Tambah, and Futurium. The conclusion aims to place the results into the bigger research context, calling for a new type of architectural research.

Urban Mining - Ressourcenschonung im Anthropozän

Book

Full-text available

Jul 2017

In der Wissenschaft seit Jahren bekannt, hat sich das Urban Mining-Konzept zu einem Modewort entwickelt. Es beschreibt die quasi bergmännische Rohstoffgewinnung im urbanen Raum – in der Stadt wie auch in der Kommune. Genauer betrachtet verbergen sich dahinter bislang jedoch häufig nur Konzepte einer erweiterten Siedlungsabfallwirtschaft. Aber im Gegensatz zu dieser mit ihren recht kurzen und damit leicht erfass- und prognostizierbaren Materialumlaufzeiten erfordert eine generationenübergreifende Aufgabe wie Urban Mining weit umfangreichere Instrumente und eine weit vorausschauende Strategie zum Stoffstrommanagement. Das Umweltbundesamt will ein gemeinsames Verständnis zum Urban Mining vermitteln und dazu ermutigen, mit diesem Strategieansatz konsequent voranzuschreiten. https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/publikationen/urban-mining-ressourcenschonung-im-anthropozaen

Environmental assessment of the Urban Mining and Recycling (UMAR) unit by applying the LCA framework

Article

Full-text available

Feb 2019

In 2016, Empa inaugurated NEST ("Next Evolution in Sustainable Building Technologies"), a new type of building that expedites the innovation process by providing a platform where new developments in the built environment can be tested, verified and demonstrated under realistic conditions. One of the units within is the "Urban Mining and Recycling" (UMAR) unit by Werner Sobek with Dirk E. Hebel and Felix Heisel – a unit that demonstrates how a responsible approach of dealing with natural resources can go hand in hand with an appealing architectural design. The unit is underpinned by the proposition that all the resources required to construct the building must be fully reusable, recyclable or compostable and are therefore part of a circular economy; propositions that can be tested here in a kind of "real-life" laboratory. Empa's Technology & Society Laboratory (TSL) established – in parallel to the integration of this unit into the NEST building – an ecological evaluation of this unit, using the tool of "life cycle assessment" (LCA). Compared to a hypothetical reference unit in same size and standard constructed out of common building materials such as concrete, the UMAR unit shows over its entire life cycle a reduction of the environmental impacts of 18% (for grey energy) to more than 40% (global warming potential).

Resource-respectful construction – the case of the Urban Mining and Recycling unit (UMAR)

Article

Full-text available

Feb 2019

The growing elimination of resources calls for a paradigm shift from linear material consumption to circular economy - especially in the construction industry. The residential and research unit Urban Mining and Recycling (UMAR) in the modular experimental building NEST of Swiss research institute Empa consequently implements this claim: The design by Werner Sobek with Dirk E. Hebel and Felix Heisel is constructed from separable, ingrade material resources that are completely reusable, recyclable or compostable. The concept of cycles therefore plays a central role: Utilized materials are not consumed and then disposed of; instead, they are borrowed from their technical or biological cycle for a certain period of time and later returned to these material cycles. Considering its many reclaimed material resources, the apartment is a built example of urban mining. Designed for disassembly at the end of its service time, UMAR also represents a material depot for future projects: Instead of connecting elements and components irreversibly through wet connections such as chemical glues, UMAR uses screws, clamps or interlocking systems in order to recover all used substances ingrade and sorted. UMAR is both temporary material depot and material laboratory – while proving the claim that it is possible already today to build within a circular system.

Can Material Passports lower financial barriers for structural steel re-use?

Article

Full-text available

Feb 2019

The building and construction sector is responsible for more than half of global steel consumption. Recycling is common practice. Yet, this is an energy intensive process, even when using the best currently available technology. A strategy that avoids energy use for remelting and significantly reduces negative environmental impacts is re-use. Steel element re-use is technically feasible and economically attractive in certain cases. However, re-use rates in the UK remain low. Cost and timing are identified to be among the main barriers for re-use across the structural steel value chain. Re-used steel is estimated to be about 8-10% more expensive than new steel, taking into account all required reconditioning processes. This study investigates how data/information services like BAMB Material Passports can facilitate structural steel re-use in the UK by lowering financial barriers. It shows that relevant data has the potential of reducing costs in sourcing, testing, reconditioning and fabrication, ranging from 150-1000 £/t, depending on the re-use path followed (remanufacture or direct re-use of elements/structures). Key stakeholder groups are stockists and fabricators, which will be both the suppliers and customers of the data. It should be noted that data alone is not sufficient to overcome all barriers. Next to shortening or vertical integration of the supply chain, value redistribution across the chain can align incentives of different stakeholders. Regulations and perceptions (on quality) also play a key role. Finally, reversible design/design for dismantling can be a game changer in the transition towards more structural steel re-use, since it can significantly reduce deconstruction costs.

Urban Mining: Visualizing the Availability of Construction Materials for Re-use in Future Cities

Conference Paper

Full-text available

Jul 2017

This paper presents a method and case study to visualize the urban stock of materials and its availability for use in building future cities. Re-using material from existing buildings for new buildings can be seen as a source for construction materials in times of depleting natural resources. The authors explain the concept of "urban mining" and the challenges, such as "How much resources are available in a city? Today? In the near future?" We explore what data are needed to answer the questions, and then discuss how to best visualize the data in an effective and intuitive way. We apply the concept to an exemplary real-world district in Singapore that is in transformation. Then, we discuss features of a visual tool prototype and explain the thinking behind the design, e.g., how the spatial and temporal dimensions can be presented. Lastly, we conclude the paper with an outlook of future challenges. The paper presents a multidisciplinary approach with researchers from computer science, architecture, graphic design and material science, and contributes to the discussion of how to visualize knowledge and plan sustainable future cities.

Design for Change and Circularity – Accommodating Circular Material & Product Flows in Construction

Article

Full-text available

Sep 2016

R.J. Geldermans

Circular building concepts, as proposed within e.g. Circular Economy and Cradle-to-Cradle frameworks, imply radical changes for the construction sector. Cradle-to-Cradle® in particular has put forward the idea of buildings as material banks, radically altering the way material flows need to be managed. The notion of material banks (temporary storage of materials that comprise the building assemblies) sheds new light on the value of building materials and products, and how to maintain and restore this. The basics are straightforward: high quality, pure material use and anticipated material regeneration routes. The implications for the supply and value chain, however, are significant, and research in this direction has only recently taken off. To smoothen the path to implementation, circular building principles may be combined with Design-for-Adaptability (DfA) guidelines, as developed over the last decades. DfA guidelines are rooted in enhanced resilience of the built environment on the one hand, and the associated constructive implications on the other. Synergy between the concepts of circularity and adaptability, with regard to the Dutch context, is at the heart of this paper. The main research question is: what are prerequisites for an effective performance of materials, products, services and buildings in the case circularity is a leading ambition? The research is structured around four interdisciplinary expert workshops in which knowledge and experiences were shared, discussed, tested and redefined, leading to a set of preconditions for circular building material and product flows. A key finding is that circularity-values emerge at the intersection of specific intrinsic properties (material and product characteristics) and relational properties (building design and use characteristics), whilst combining multiple parameters. In separation, neither intrinsic nor relational properties have decisive significance with regard to circularity; it is on the crossing where fulfillment is created. This paper finishes by discussing the findings from the perspectives of lifespan, monitoring, ownership, and standardization.

Building from Waste: Recovered Materials in Architecture and Construction

Book

Full-text available

Sep 2014

”Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Recover“ is the sustainable guideline that has replaced the ”Take, Make, Waste“ attitude of the industrial age. Based on their background at the ETH Zurich and the Future Cities Laboratory in Singapore, the authors provide both a conceptual and practical look into materials and products which use waste as a renewable resource. This book introduces an inventory of current projects and building elements, ranging from marketed products, among them façade panels made of straw and self-healing concrete, to advanced research and development like newspaper, wood or jeans denim used as isolating fibres. Going beyond the mere recycling aspect of reused materials, it looks into innovative concepts of how materials usually regarded as waste can be processed into new construction elements. The products are organized along the manufacturing processes: densified, reconfigured, transformed, designed and cultivated materials. A product directory presents all materials and projects in this book according to their functional uses in construction: load-bearing, self-supporting, insulating, waterproofing and finishing products.

Jobs for tomorrow: the potential for substituting manpower for energy

Article

Full-text available

Jan 1981

Sumario: Introduction -- Analysis: Two case studies and their national context -- Syntesis: Feasibility of the substitution of labor for energy -- Appendix I: The European Community and its institutions -- Appendix II: What is the French "Plan"? -- Bibliography

Circularity information management for buildings: the example of materials passports

Chapter

Jan 2019

Lars Luscuere

BIM-Based Material Passport (MP) as an Optimization Tool for Increasing the Recyclability of Buildings

Article

Jan 2019

Building stocks and infrastructures are representing the largest material stock of industrial economies, whereby the largest fraction of building materials is transformed into waste at the end of the life cycle. In order to optimize the recycling potential of buildings, new design-tools and methods are required, whereby it is of utmost importance to have a documentation of the material composition of buildings. In this paper, the methodology for creating a BIM-based Material Passport, enabling optimization of the design of buildings and serving as a documentation of materials existing in buildings, is described. Therefore, a specific building component - the flat roof - of a residential building is used in order to test the proposed tool-chain and show the recycling potential of the built-in materials. Thereby, the recycling potential of a version in timber construction and a version in concrete construction is assessed. The results show that the two versions have a similar recycling rate. However, concrete has a significantly higher mass in comparison to timber, by what the mass of the total waste materials is less in the timber version.

A taxonomy of circular economy indicators

Article

Jan 2019
J CLEAN PROD

Implementing circular economy (CE) principles is increasingly recommended as a convenient solution to meet the goals of sustainable development. New tools are required to support practitioners, decision-makers and policy-makers towards more CE practices, as well as to monitor the effects of CE adoption. Worldwide, academics, industrialists and politicians all agree on the need to use CE-related measuring instruments to manage this transition at different systemic levels. In this context, a wide range of circularity indicators (C-indicators) has been developed in recent years. Yet, as there is not one single definition of the CE concept, it is of the utmost importance to know what the available indicators measure in order to use them properly. Indeed, through a systematic literature review – considering both academic and grey literature – 55 sets of C-indicators, developed by scholars, consulting companies and governmental agencies, have been identified, encompassing different purposes, scopes, and potential usages. Inspired by existing taxonomies of eco-design tools and sustainability indicators, and in line with the CE characteristics, a classification of indicators aiming to assess, improve, monitor and communicate on the CE performance is proposed and discussed. In the developed taxonomy including 10 categories, C-indicators are differentiated regarding criteria such as the levels of CE implementation (e.g. micro, meso, macro), the CE loops (maintain, reuse, remanufacture, recycle), the performance (intrinsic, impacts), the perspective of circularity (actual, potential) they are taking into account, or their degree of transversality (generic, sector-specific). In addition, the database inventorying the 55 sets of C-indicators is linked to an Excel-based query tool to facilitate the selection of appropriate indicators according to the specific user’s needs and requirements. This study enriches the literature by giving a first need-driven taxonomy of C-indicators, which is experienced on several use cases. It provides a synthesis and clarification to the emerging and must-needed research theme of C-indicators, and sheds some light on remaining key challenges like their effective uptake by industry. Eventually, limitations, improvement areas, as well as implications of the proposed taxonomy are intently addressed to guide future research on C-indicators and CE implementation.

The Performance Economy

Article

Jan 2010

Walter R Stahel

Cradle to Cradle. Remaking the Way We Make Things

Book

Jan 2002

Resource Repletion , Role of Buildings

Chapter

Jan 2012

Potential of Urban Mine

Chapter

Aug 2015

The potential of urban mining is getting greater. From the global view, the potential of urban mining, namely the estimated amount of on-surface stock which has been mine form the geo-sphere into the techno-sphere, is comparative to natural resource which is still in geo-sphere as underground stock. However, practical recycling of metals are still in the stage of developing, and depending on the country. As an example, ultimate potential of urban mine in Japan was estimated. The differences between input of each metal contents and output of it were considered to be accumulated. I/O method was combined to estimate the metal contents in exported products. Japan, which is considered a typical exporter of materials, has great potential of urban mining which comes from domestic demand of products. However, real activity of development of urban mine, namely recycling, is not so effective, especially for minor metals which sometime called rare metals from the viewpoint of the importance in industries. We need to develop the technology and system for urban mining, just now.

The functional economy: Cultural and organizational change

Article

Jan 2005

Walter R Stahel

A functional economy, as defined in this paper, is one that optimizes the use (or function) of goods and services and thus the management of existing wealth (goods. knowledge, and nature). The economic objective of the functional economy is to create the highest possible use value for the longest possible time while consuming as few material resources and energy as possible. This functional economy is therefore considerably more sustainable, or dematerialized, than the present economy, which is focused on production and related material flows as its principal means to create wealth. One aim of this paper is to sketch out a functional economy. The other is to show the social, cultural, and organizational change that may arise in shifting from a productionoriented economy toward a functional or service-oriented economy.

Urban mining: Concepts, terminology, challenges

Article

Oct 2015

How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They're Built.

Book

Jan 1994

Stewart Brand

Urban Mining A Contribution to Reindustrializing the City

Article

Jun 2011

Paul H. Brunner

Regenerative design for sustainable development / John Tillman Lyle

Article

John Tillman Lyle

Incluye bibliografía e índice

From Principles to Practiced: First Steps towards a Circular Built Environment. Arup, Ellen MacArthur Foundation

Jan 2018

Devni Acharya
Boyd
Richard
Olivia Finch

Acharya, Devni, Boyd, Richard, Finch, Olivia, 2018. From Principles to Practiced: First Steps towards a Circular Built Environment. Arup, Ellen MacArthur Foundation, London, UK, 3XN GXN.

Synthesis Of The State-of-the-Art'. No. D1. BAMB Buildings as Material Banks

Jan 2016

Wim Debacker
Saskia Manshoven

Debacker, Wim, Manshoven, Saskia, 2016. 'Synthesis Of The State-of-the-Art'. No. D1. BAMB Buildings as Material Banks, Brussels, Belgium.

Economic and Business Rationale for an Accelerated Transition

Jan 2013

Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2013. 'Towards the Circular Economy Vol 1 : Economic and Business Rationale for an Accelerated Transition'. No. 1,, Rethink the Future. Ellen MacArthur Foundation, London, UK.

Circularity Indicators: an Approach to Measuring Circularity

Jan 2015

Ellen Macarthur Foundation
Granta Design

Ellen MacArthur Foundation, Granta Design, 2015. Circularity Indicators: an Approach to Measuring Circularity. Ellen MacArthur Foundation, London, UK.

Jan 2015

Empa

Empa, 2015. Introducing NEST. Empa materials Science and Technology webpage. retrieved December 10, 2018. https://www.empa.ch/web/nest/aboutnest. EPEA and SundaHus, 2017. Framework for Materials Passports. BAMB Buildings as Material Banks, Brussels, Belgium.

Circularity passports. EPEA nederland webpage

Aug 2019

EPEA, 2019. Circularity passports. EPEA nederland webpage. retrieved August 5, 2019. http://www.epea.nl/circularity-passports/.

Laying Down, Pursuant to Directive 2006/66/EC of the European Parliamment and of the Council, Detailed Rules Regarding the Calculation of Recycling Efficiencies of the Recycling Process of Waste Batteries and Accumulators

Jan 2012

European Commission, 2012. Laying Down, Pursuant to Directive 2006/66/EC of the European Parliamment and of the Council, Detailed Rules Regarding the Calculation of Recycling Efficiencies of the Recycling Process of Waste Batteries and Accumulators. European Commission, Brussels, Belgium. Commission Regulation No. 493/2012.

Towards a Circular Economy: A Zero Waste Programme for Europe'. Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions No

Jan 2014
398

European Commission, 2014. 'Towards a Circular Economy: A Zero Waste Programme for Europe'. Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions No. COM(2014) 398 Final. European Commission, Brussels, Belgium.

Closing the Loop -an EU Action Plan for the Circular Economy'. Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions No. 614 Final

Jan 2015

European Commission, 2015. 'Closing the Loop -an EU Action Plan for the Circular Economy'. Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions No. 614 Final. European Commission, Brussels, Belgium. COM(2015).

Level(s): Taking Action on the TOTAL Impact of the Construction Sector

Jan 2019

European Commission, 2019. Level(s): Taking Action on the TOTAL Impact of the Construction Sector. Luxembourg Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg.

European Wood: Selected European Wood Species and Their Characteristics

Jan 2010

European Wood Initiative

European Wood Initiative, 2010. European Wood: Selected European Wood Species and Their Characteristics. European Wood Initiative, Brussels, Belgium. eurostat, 2019. In: Generation of Waste by Waste Category, Hazardousness and NACE Rev. 2 Activity. env_wasgen Webpage retrieved August 2, 2019, from. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-datasets/-/env_wasgen.

BauCycle: recycling von Baustoffen. Fraunhofer-Institut für Umwelt-, Sicherheits-und Energietechnik UMSICHT Webpage

Aug 2019

Fraunhofer

Fraunhofer, 2019. BauCycle: recycling von Baustoffen. Fraunhofer-Institut für Umwelt-, Sicherheits-und Energietechnik UMSICHT Webpage. retrieved August 4, 2019, from. https://www.umsicht.fraunhofer.de/de/referenzen/ baucycle-recycling-baustoffe.html.

Design for change and circularity -accomodating circular material & product flows in construction. In: 96, 301e311, Paper Presented at SBE16 Tallinn and Helsinki; BuildGreen and Renovate Deep

Jan 2016

R J Geldermans

Geldermans, R.J., 2016. Design for change and circularity -accomodating circular material & product flows in construction. In: 96, 301e311, Paper Presented at SBE16 Tallinn and Helsinki; BuildGreen and Renovate Deep, Tallinn and Helsinki.

Gypsum recycling international webpage

Aug 2018

Gypsum Recycling

Gypsum Recycling, 2018. A unique system. Gypsum recycling international webpage. retrieved August 4, 2019, from. http://www.gypsumrecycling.biz/15895-1_Auniquesystem/.

Resource-Respectful construction e the case of the urban mining and recycling unit (UMAR)'. In: SBE19 Brussels -BAMB-CIRCPATH 'Buildings as Material Banks -A Pathway for A Circular Future

Jan 2019

Felix Heisel
Dirk E Hebel
Werner Sobek

Heisel, Felix, Hebel, Dirk E., Sobek, Werner, 2019a. 'Resource-Respectful construction e the case of the urban mining and recycling unit (UMAR)'. In: SBE19 Brussels -BAMB-CIRCPATH 'Buildings as Material Banks -A Pathway for A Circular Future', 1, 012043, Paper Presented at SBE19 Brussels -BAMB-

Circularity in the Built Environment: Case Studies, A Compilation of Case Studies from the CE100. Ellen MacArthur Foundation

Jan 2016

John Hutton
Katherine Adams
Hobbs
Gilli
Cari
Isabelle
Jodie Bricout
Clare Ollerenshaw
Jasper
Steinhausen
Sabine Oberhuber

Hutton, John, Adams, Katherine, Hobbs, Gilli, Cari, Isabelle, Bricout, Jodie, Clare, Ollerenshaw, Jasper, Steinhausen, Oberhuber, Sabine, 2016. Circularity in the Built Environment: Case Studies, A Compilation of Case Studies from the CE100. Ellen MacArthur Foundation, London, UK. ift Rosenheim GmbH, 2016. 'Umweltproduktdeklaration (EPD)'. Environmental Product Declaration No. EPD-MGK-23.0. Rosenheim, Germany.

Madaster for private individuals webpage

Apr 2018

Madaster

Madaster, 2018a. Madaster for private individuals webpage. retrieved April 14, 2019, from. https://www.madaster.com/en/private-individuals/madaster-forprivate-individuals.

Explanation Madaster Circularity Indicator

Jan 2018

Madaster

Madaster, 2018b. Explanation Madaster Circularity Indicator. Madaster Services B.V, Utrecht, The Netherlands.

Triple-E: Total Vessel Recycling

Jan 2012

Maersk Line

Maersk Line, 2012. Triple-E: Total Vessel Recycling. Maersk Line.

Material Matters: hoe wij onze relatie met de aarde kunnen veranderen

Jan 2016

T Rau
S Oberhuber

Rau, T., Oberhuber, S., 2016. Material Matters: hoe wij onze relatie met de aarde kunnen veranderen. Bertram þ de Leeuw Uitgevers BV.

Das EU Kreislaufwirtschaftspaket und die circular economy coalition for Europe

Jan 2016

Christoph Scharff

Scharff, Christoph, 2016. Das EU Kreislaufwirtschaftspaket und die circular economy coalition for Europe, in Recycling und Rohstoffe. In: Thom e-Kozmiensky, Karl J., Goldmann, Daniel (Eds.), pp. 11e26 (paper presented at Berliner Recycling-und Rohstoffkonferenz, Berlin, Germany).

Framework for Policies, Regulations and Standards. BAMB Buildings as Material Banks

Jan 2018

Jackie Sharp
Gilli Hobbs
Caroline Henrotay
Steinlage
Molly
Debacker
De Wim
Regel

Sharp, Jackie, Hobbs, Gilli, Henrotay, Caroline, Steinlage, Molly, Debacker, Wim, De Regel, Sofie, Sj€ ogren, Camilla, 2018. Framework for Policies, Regulations and Standards. BAMB Buildings as Material Banks, Brussels, Belgium.

In: The Circular Economy and Benefits for Society Jobs and Climate Clear Winners in an Economy Based on Renewable Energy and Resource Efficiency. The Club of Rome

Jan 2016

A Wijkman
K Skånberg

Wijkman, A., Skånberg, K., 2016. In: The Circular Economy and Benefits for Society Jobs and Climate Clear Winners in an Economy Based on Renewable Energy and Resource Efficiency. The Club of Rome, Rome, Italy.

The Economy of Cities. Random House

Jan 1969

Jane Jacobs

Jacobs, Jane, 1969. The Economy of Cities. Random House, New York City, USA.

Buildings As Material Banks -A Pathway for A Circular Future', 1, 012049, Paper Presented at SBE19 Brussels -BAMB-CIRCPATH 'Buildings as Material Banks -A Pathway for A Circular Future

Feb 2019
5-7

Efstathios Kakkos
Heisel
Felix
Dirk E Hebel
Roland Hischier

Kakkos, Efstathios, Heisel, Felix, Hebel, Dirk E., Hischier, Roland, 2019. Environmental assessment of the urban mining and recycling (UMAR) unit by applying the LCA framework. In: SBE19 Brussels -BAMB-CIRCPATH 'Buildings As Material Banks -A Pathway for A Circular Future', 1, 012049, Paper Presented at SBE19 Brussels -BAMB-CIRCPATH 'Buildings as Material Banks -A Pathway for A Circular Future', 5-7 February 2019, Brussels, Belgium.

Das EU Kreislaufwirtschaftspaket und die circular economy coalition for Europe, in Recycling und Rohstoffe