Keeping it circular
Three checklists and a guideline support actors in the construction and real estate industry in developing a strategy for a circular economy.
Define circular strategies at an early stage
Circular strategies need to be well thought out. It is important to define project-specific goals, such as avoiding the waste of resources, at an early stage, prioritize them and implement them in a focused manner. The right choice of materials and products is crucial here:
Which priorities are particularly effective?
A great deal can already be achieved if conversion and demolition-friendly planning and multiple use of space are implemented. The following two checklists offer specific questions for these topics in order to address the relevant aspects at the right time.
Planning for multiple use
Building owners and planners who address the issue of multiple use at an early stage of the planning process keep their options open. The checklist provides guidance on multiple use in new builds and conversions.
How to successfully integrate the right products into the HOAI phases
Which material should you choose for which product? And how do you integrate it into the cycle? The guide shows the individual steps along the HOAI phases: from mindset and planning to execution and documentation.
Background knowledge
Circular economy - Built future
The construction and real estate sector wastes resources and produces high levels of emissions, is often poorly aligned with people's needs and is even harmful to health in many cases. In addition, it often fails to strengthen local markets and frequently generates unnecessary costs in the medium and long term. A sustainable alternative to this linear value creation is the circular economy.
A circular strategy in the construction sector can achieve enormous improvements for the environment, people and the economy in all countries. The European Commission has also placed the advantages of a circular economy over a linear economy at the heart of its European Green Deal - a strategic plan to help Europe become the first climate-neutral continent.
The circular model in the construction sector
The circular model illustrated here describes the concept of a circular economy in construction: instead of extracting material resources regardless of their finite nature (take) and disposing of them again after a short period of use, stakeholders should focus on preserving the respective qualities. This makes it possible to recycle resources between the make and use phases.
Circular strategies with a focus on material cycles
- In terms of circular construction, players in the construction and real estate industry are concerned with the preservation
- are concerned with the preservation, upgrading and activation of existing buildings and see them as a valuable source and store of materials (1).
- They make intensive use of existing material flows and values (2).
- In addition, they enable long-term use and future use in closed cycles so that no waste is produced over the entire life cycle (3).
Conclusion
Increasing the quality of the material resources used promotes the preservation of neighborhoods, buildings, construction products and materials. This has a positive effect on people and their livelihoods and, not least, goes hand in hand with an increase in economic value.
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