Construction

Buildings, areas and infrastructure. Together they make up our built environment. They ensure that we can live, work and work safely and pleasantly. Construction is one of the most important sectors for a thriving society. But construction also has a huge environmental impact. The sector is responsible for 50% of our raw material consumption, 40% of energy consumption, 30% of water consumption and 35% of CO₂ emissions. So we face a major sustainability challenge in this. At the same time, smart circular design can greatly reduce the total cost of ownership of buildings and significantly increase residual value.

Residential and commercial construction, as well as roads, bridges, levees and sewers, consist of large quantities of heavy materials. Think of stone, concrete and steel. Mining, processing and transporting these has an excessive impact on the earth. Moreover, a large part of all waste in the Netherlands comes from construction and demolition waste. Although we already recycle some 97% of construction and demolition waste in the Netherlands, this often involves low-grade applications in the Soil, Road and Hydraulic Engineering (GWW) sector. All in all, we have a major circular task here. A task that is put under additional pressure by the challenges surrounding additional housing, sustainability of the existing stock and replacement and renovation in the GWW.

Circular design is indispensable in the transition to a circular building economy. First of all, it makes sense to approach the housing & infrastructure task and the energy transition of existing stock differently: rethinking. Much attention needs to be paid to extending the lifespan of existing buildings. Think adaptive building or optimizing the design for the full life span instead of a minimum building envelope. And when a building or its systems can no longer perform its functions, we can harvest the materials used and reuse them in a high-value way. We will increasingly look at substitution and biobased building materials. But we also need clear laws and regulations, new contract forms, different business models. Everything to ensure that the we move to a future-proof and circular building economy.