Circularity in the Built Environment

Circularity in the Built Environment

”For most of human history, reuse was not a strategy but an ordinary part of building. Roman builders routinely salvaged stone and timber, Ming builders repurposed Yuan materials for the Forbidden City, and medieval craftsmen raised cathedrals from earlier ruins…” (Reuse Playbook, P.3).

However today, our resource-intensive take-make-waste economy is damaging the planet, with the built environment driving 50% of global material extraction, 15% of which is wasted. Approximately 40% of global emissions can be attributed to construction, use, and demolition, and C&D waste accounts for roughly 30%-40% of all solid waste generated worldwide.

Earlier this year we were delighted to arrange a fascinating Masterclass on Circular Economy in the Built Environment to address this topic, with contributions from two member companies that are demonstrating its principles in practice: Arup and A&L Goodbody.

The Masterclass revolved around Arup’s ‘Reuse Playbook: A whole industry guide to construction material reuse’. Ben Glover, lead author of Arup’s report and UKIMEA Resources and Waste Leader at Arup, travelled to Dublin to speak to members about the content of the Playbook.

The Circular Buildings Toolkit, previously published, emphasises prioritising renovation, repurposing, and optimisation before new construction, and encourages designing buildings and processes that use materials efficiently when building is unavoidable.

The Reuse Playbook builds on this Toolkit, acknowledging that reuse is not just a technical pursuit but requires new behaviours, roles, and shared responsibility across the value chain. It is a step-by-step guide to material reuse, asking who does what, and when, identifying the stakeholder personas best placed to lead each step and considering how they can be meaningfully incentivised.

“Where the CBT sets out what is needed, the Reuse Playbook provides the how.”

The morning culminated in a tour of A&L Goodbody’s offices, a stunning exemplar of sustainable office development, presenting an inspiring example of how innovative design and circular principles can deliver substantial reductions in embodied carbon, energy use contributing not just climate-positive impact but also significant cost reductions.

The tour was jointly delivered by Tadhg Hickey, Associate Director at Arup and who was involved in the project, and from A&L Goodbody Keith Walsh, Head of Workplace Services at A&L Goodbody, and Eamonn Gill, Partner – Construction & Engineering.

Tourgoers learnt that:

  • 75% of the existing structure was retained in the redevelopment
  • It used 60% less embodied carbon than a new build
  • It increased area was increased by 35% mainly by adding additional floors, while electricity usage decreased by 67%
  • The existing basement was reimagined, and turned into a highly efficient, safe and bright space to accommodate double height bicycle parking, a gym, yoga studio and a shower block. This is important as a new basement can be 30% of a new build’s carbon, but reforming and reusing the existing basement reduced this figure to only 5% of the building’s carbon in this project.
  • Ground Granulated Blast‑furnace Slag (GGBS) was used instead of traditional cement, a 96% reduction in the carbon footprint of traditional cement
  • The shell and core base build aligned to final fit out, which avoided installation and removal of inappropriate systems to make space for the final fit out. Often this is not the case.
  • The redevelopment of the office was designed to consider accessibility from the outset, using partnering with Access Earth, a disability and inclusion readiness platform to help ensure an accessible and inclusive workplace.
  • The design maximised the facade in terms of glass reduces the energy needed to maintain the building’s heat

After returning to the main room, attendees heard from our panelists – Tadhg Hickey from Arup, representing the persona of designer/engineer/sustainability consultant/material expert, Eamonn Gill from A&L Goodbody, representing the client (tenant perspective), and Richard Latchford, Building / Facilities / Technical Services Manager at IPUT Real Estate, who are the client (landlord/owner perspective) of the buildings.

Key insights from the panel included:

  • The ethos and vision of the project acted as an anchor for delivery
  • The ambition of the landlord – in this case IPUT Real Estate – and the willingness of the client were both critical to the project’s success
  • Alignment of purpose between all stakeholders enabled a smooth process
  • Working with the architect and internal fit-out providers from an early stage
  • Helped to avoid unnecessary waste
  • Circularity of office furniture is a challenge due to storage requirements
  • It’s important to move from ‘design-led’ to a ‘resource-led’ approach

The circular economy in the built environment – eliminating waste, circulating materials at their highest value, and regenerating nature – offers a pathway to make better use of existing buildings, choose smarter materials, and potentially cut building material emissions by 38% by 2050, while also making the sector more resilient to supply chain disruption and avoiding price volatility of raw materials.

It’s time we started viewing the buildings we live and work in as material banks.

Thank you to everyone who joined us, contributed to the discussion, and demonstrated their commitment to advancing circularity in Ireland’s built environment.

To access the slide deck, you can contact Meaghan Carmody, mcarmody@bitc.ie

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