The circular economy – the challenge for design and construction

In the Ellen MacArthur Foundation report Growth Within, “the concept rests on three principles: preserve and enhance natural capital, optimise yields from resources in use, and foster system effectiveness (minimise negative externalities)”. While it seems to be reasonably straight forward to reuse valuable resources from relatively short-lived consumer products, the challenge for construction is how to apply these principles to buildings and infrastructure which can last for decades if not longer and also how to take effective action to extend the life of existing buildings and infrastructure as a positive contribution to supporting a more circular economy. How to we bring these principles into mainstream construction? What are the changes needed to make the whole industry behave differently? These are the challenges for the construction industry and the built environment and this discussion explores ways to meet it and respond to SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production. We will invite the audience to contribute their own suggestions and by the session end we will identify three key recommendations as the most universally applicable.

This session was developed with steering group partner the Alliance for Sustainable Building Products (ASBP).