Circular economy principles are an ever-growing consideration within today’s society, with sustainability concepts such as material re-use and recycle having already been integrated into common practice. However, as technology is enhancing, a range of new sustainable endeavours are popping up within multiple industries worldwide. The circular economy has started making its way into the construction industry, with an increasing focus on waste minimisation and resource efficiency. The growing presence of sustainable practices presents a change of approach for an industry that produces over 20 million tons of waste per year in Australia.
So, let’s take a look at how to optimise sustainability within the construction process…
The Building Blocks
The built environment can be described as an environment in which asset creation occurs. More specifically, anything that is made by humans for humans creates its own built environment. Within a built environment, all assets have a complete lifecycle. This lifecycle is made up of 5 phases: designing and planning, construction, commissioning, operation and maintenance, and renovation or demolition. By implementing strategies to optimise sustainability within each phase of an asset’s lifecycle, circular economy principles can be more effectively satisfied.
Sustainable Strategies in the Design and Planning Phase
Whilst circular economy practices are integrated within the physical development of an asset, the design and planning phase is crucial in ‘setting the scene’ for sustainability. To decrease the amount of waste generated during the entirety of an asset’s lifespan, architects and engineers must work together to create designs that facilitate reuse and recycle. For example, strategies may include:
1. Consider using sustainable materials and plan for their disposal
Ideally, materials should be locally sourced and have minimal environmental impact, with already planned, sustainable end-of-life scenarios. Disregard for sustainability in the construction industry results in cheap material usage and large contributions to landfall. Additionally, the design and planning of an asset should consider sustainability through the support of local industries.
2. Implement sustainable construction systems
All assets can be designed to optimise sustainability. For example, within the development of a building, natural ventilators, smart glazing designs, shading or garden roofs are all great examples of sustainable designs. They aim to minimise energy consumption whilst maintaining the building users’ comfort. Sustainable systems such as green roofs have started popping up more and more around Australia recently, with the MONA gallery’s green roof in Hobart being a great example. Sustainable construction systems also include those that limit degradation over time to prevent additional resource requirements.
3. Design with flexibility
An asset that is designed to minimise disturbance during alterations prevents whole unit replacement during site-specific repair. For example, a flexible building should allow for simple deconstruction and reconstruction. This way, it enables material reuse and facilitates recyclability. A flexible design can also maximise sustainability through accommodating for change in user requirements. This includes a building with moveable partitions allowing the tenants to easily adapt the space to their needs. Multi-functional spaces also minimise resource requirements by using one area to its maximum potential.
4. Work with sustainable partners
By employing partners who have a shared vision in achieving a circular economy, asset development plans will reflect increased sustainability. These types of partners include contractors who prioritise social reintegration or carbon neutrality. It is important to look for environmental and social certifications or facts demonstrating their engagement to avoid green-washing marketing.
5. Optimise space
Optimising asset capacity is a strategy that often goes unrealised. It is estimated that office buildings are only utilised to approximately 65% of their capacity. To overcome this issue, shared systems should be considered in the design stage of a building. Shared systems include spaces such as parking lots that allow office use during the day and residential using during the night.
Sustainable Strategies in the Construction and Commissioning Phase
The construction phase is the most material-heavy stage in the development of an asset; hence it is also a stage of high waste production. Material packaging and material over-supply are just two examples of the types of waste that may be produced during construction.
So, how do I optimise sustainability during construction?
- Correct disposal of packaging is essential to enhancing sustainability whilst over-supplied stock can be re-sold to decrease on-site waste.
- Construction projects have seen a recent increase in the use of sustainability-driven analytics. In utilising advanced technology to analyse construction progress, over-supply of materials is prevented whilst resource efficiency is optimised.
Sustainable Strategies in the Operations and Maintenance Phase
Whilst being the less obvious candidate, the operations and maintenance phase is the ‘make or break’ of the sustainability process. Regardless of whether a development project utilises sustainable practices throughout the planning and construction phases, if it is poorly operated and maintained its lifespan and reuse potential will be limited. Proper maintenance and operational planning keeps equipment and construction systems at their optimal functional quality and value. Additionally, a well-maintained asset results in increased compliance with the circular process (rehabilitation over demolition).
So, how do I optimise sustainability during the operations and maintenance phase?
Again, the most effective strategy for sustainability within the operations and maintenance phase is the integration of advanced analytics systems. The implementation of these systems allows for progress tracking and data-driven analyses of where resource efficiency can be improved. Effectively, this strategy results in higher asset usage and optimal expenditure.
Sustainable Strategies in the Rehabilitation and Renovation/ Demolition Phase
Towards an asset’s end-of-life, renovation or rehabilitation should be considered before demolition or deconstruction. This avoids resource wastage (most commonly, concrete and glass). Circular economy principles suggest taking steps towards extending an asset’s lifespan through upgrades and process efficiency investigations.
What prevents sustainability during this phase?
Ultimately, the effectiveness of sustainable practices leading up to an assets end-of-life influences its rehabilitation and renovation potential. By failing to optimise sustainability within every stage of the development lifecycle, the asset will be unfit for rehabilitation and renovation. This results in increased expenditure and resource wastage.
Is it possible to consider circular economy during demolition?
During demolition, it is important that the demolition process follows The Waste Hierarchy principle. Material repair and reuse are ideal in producing a closed-loop circular economy, whilst recycling or redistributing of used materials are also effective waste management methods.
The Broader Picture
The future of sustainability within the construction industry is looking promising thanks to developing technologies and the increasing social push for environmental consciousness. But much like any ‘change to the program’, there are externalities influencing the success of implementation…
Growth opportunities for the Circular Economy in the Built Environment
With continually advancing technology, there is more and more we can do every day. Paired alongside an increase in environmental awareness, constructional processes are seeing a rapid emergence of opportunities for sustainable advancement. Some of these opportunities include:
1. Business adaptation
Businesses can adapt to the circular economy ecosystem by offering services that allow asset owners to achieve circular economy targets. For example, the Australian company, PRECYCLE, has developed a 6-stage process to minimise general construction site waste. Their process integrates reusing and recycling practices whilst increasing overall site safety.
2. Building a stronger ecosystem
As the circular economy model gets more and more popular, more research, experiments and success/failure stories are being produced. Sharing experiences will enable quicker evolution of the circular economy ecosystem. Collaboration between asset owners would also be an effective method of enhancing knowledge and engaging stakeholders.
3. Quantifying social, environmental and financial benefits
To identify the best circular economy practices, it is necessary to consider relative indicators such as the Recycling Ratio, Recycled Content, Waste Generated, Return on Investment and others. However, the circular economy, as it’s still developing, lacks official indicators and standards for quantifying its impact. Developing indicators specific to the built environment would help identify value for businesses. The Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) process already allows for the evaluation of a building’s environmental impact, but the process is complicated and not all the indicators are easy to interpret.
4. Keeping track of information related to construction systems and materials through data collection and technological analysis
By keeping a material passport, materials can be recovered for reuse during the renovation or demolition phase. Technologies also facilitate collaboration and exchange, for example, through Building Information Modelling (BIM) within building projects. Accurate digital asset models can also be used to provide a precise estimation of necessary material quantities for a construction project, avoiding over-estimation and producing less site waste.
5. Implementation of policy and regulations
Policies push businesses and individuals to improve their asset’s sustainability by setting targets (based around legislations) in the area of waste management, energy efficiency and asset life span. They can also incentivise the best practices with funds or assistance. In addition, policies can drive training, skill upgrades and innovation within areas of the circular economy.
6. Developing sharing platforms
FLOOW2 , among others, is an asset sharing marketplace for businesses that allows individual or groups of organisations to create their own closed community. FLOOW2 powers the platform Werflink in Belgium, that allows construction companies to share equipment, materials, resources, freight space and storage facilities.
Barriers for the Circular Economy in the Built Environment
Sustainability in construction is a relatively new concept. Based on the nature and requirements of construction, there are still many barriers to overcome to achieve optimal sustainability. Some barriers include:
1. A lack of trust and guarantee
Selling already used materials can be very challenging as most of the time, the initial seller cannot provide a performance guarantee. Whilst additional insurance or guarantees can be bought, these fees are often discouraging.
2. Imbalance between supply and demand for material reuse
As the reuse market is not well-developed yet, it can be hard to find and sell specific materials. Additionally, construction and deconstruction processes must follow a project-specific timeline that sometimes doesn’t align with current material supply or demand.
3. Absence of a clear and mutual definition for circular economy in the built environment
No clear frameworks or guidelines for circular economy have been developed in the built environment resulting in many unclear, non-streamlined and ineffective practices.
So, what does this all mean?
The circular economy aims to produce a ‘closed-loop’ environment. This means waste is eventually nullified through a process of complete sustainability. Evidently, there is still some way to go before the construction industry reaches a circular economy. Current strategies in the built environment only achieve partial sustainability as a result of functionality barriers. With increasing technological capability and community focus on sustainability, however, there is no doubt that development of sustainable strategies in the built environment will proliferate in the near future.