Resource efficiency and the circular economy in construction

Dr Paul Toyne, Group practice leader sustainability, Grimshaw

23rd April 2024 On-line to Radisson Blu Hotel, Bucharest

ROMANIA CONSTRUCTION FORUM 2024 GRIMSHAW

WORLD CLASS PROJECTS

International Terminal Waterloo Eden Project Pulkovo Airport

London, United Kingdom Cornwall, UK St Petersburg, Russia

Fulton Center Southern Cross Station Thermae Bath Spa

New York City, NY, USA Melbourne, Australia Bath, United Kingdom

2 GRIMSHAW
ACROSS ALL SCALES AND SECTORS

RAIL AVIATION CULTURE

London Bridge Station Redevelopment Heathrow Expansion Cutty Sark

EDUCATION WORKPLACE RESIDENTIAL

UCL St Botolphs Levellers Court

3 GRIMSHAW
 Resource efficiency and the circular economy in construction
Today’s lecture will cover:

The current problem:

Explain the current unsustainable consumption of materials.
What are the impacts of following a linear resource strategy?

The solution:
Deploy circular and regenerative design solutions at a systems level.
Applying this to cities and buildings – some Grimshaw examples
Suggestions for the Romanian construction

4 GRIMSHAW
5 GRIMSHAW
GLOBAL RESOURCE SCARCITY

UN’s Global Resources Outlook 2024

Domestic material consumption per capita, 2019
Domestic material consumption is the quantity of material consumed in a given country. It is not adjusted for trade,
so is not a direct measure of material consumption. Material footprint is the sum of biomass, fossil fuels, metal
ores, and non-metal ores.

-10 tonnes 10 tonnes 30 tonnes 50 tonnes 70 tonnes

No data 0 tonnes 20 tonnes 40 tonnes 60 tonnes

Data source: UN Office of Legal Affairs OurWorldInData.org/sdgs/economic-growth | CC BY

Source: United Nations (2024) Source: Our World in Data (2023)

6 GRIMSHAW
GLOBAL RESOURCE SCARCITY

Source: OECD Global Material Resources Outlook to 2060

7 GRIMSHAW
GLOBAL RESOURCE SCARCITY

Metals

10% 32%
Share of sand, gravel
and crushed rock in
Fossil 17% total materials use
fuels
49%

24%
Biomass Non-metallic
minerals
2017
Source: OECD Global Material Resources Outlook to 2060

8 GRIMSHAW
GLOBAL RESOURCE SCARCITY

Source: Eurostat

9 GRIMSHAW
DRIVERS: GLOBAL POPULATION GROWTH
Distribution of population among seven world regions, 1970 – 2024, million people

Africa Asia + Pacific Eastern Europe, Caucasus + Central Asia Europe Latin America + Caribbean North America West Asia

Source: UN DESA World Population Prospects (2022)

10 GRIMSHAW
IMPACTS OF MATERIAL CONSUMPTION: CLIMATE CHANGE
Greenhouse gas emissions by sector, World
Greenhouse gas emissions are measured in tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents over a 100-year timescale.

Source: Our World in Data (2023)

11 GRIMSHAW
IMPACTS OF MATERIAL CONSUMPTION: BIODIVERSITY LOSS

Source: WWF’s Living Planet Report (2022)

12 GRIMSHAW
BIODIVERSITY LOSS:
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF SOIL CONSERVATION
Mapping of the world’s degraded land

Source: H.K. Gibbs (2015) Image source: EARTH.ORG

14 GRIMSHAW
IMPACT OF MATERIAL CONSUMPTION: PLANETARY
BOUNDARIES

Source: Stockholm Resilience Centre (2023)

15 GRIMSHAW
IMPACT OF MATERIAL CONSUMPTION: PLANETARY
BOUNDARIES

2023
Source: Stockholm Resilience Centre (2023)

16 GRIMSHAW
17 GRIMSHAW
SOLUTIONS: CIRCULAR CONSTRUCTION PRINCIPLES
Principles of circular construction Material reuse landscape

Source: The Handbook to Building a Circular Source: Circular Construction in Regenerative Cities: Insights from the CIRCuIT project (2023)
Economy, David Cheshire, RIBA

18 GRIMSHAW
SOLUTIONS: THE OPPORTUNITY

19 GRIMSHAW
 CIRCULAR ECONOMY:
ADAPTIVE REUSE IN BUILDINGS

HERMAN MILLER FURNITURE FACTORY BATH UK, 1976 GRIMSHAW

HERMAN MILLER FURNITURE FACTORY BATH UK, 1976
 “ ... buildings can no longer be designed as
monuments for special purposes - they
must respond to … and be easily changed
by the user without professional help.”

Nick Grimshaw, RIBA J, 1976

BATH SCHOOLS OF ART AND DESIGN BATH UK, 1976 GRIMSHAW

 Before After

BATH SCHOOLS OF ART AND DESIGN BATH UK, 2019 GRIMSHAW

 APPROACHES TO DECARBONISATION:
DESIGN FOR MANUFACTURE AND
ASSEMBLY

HERMAN MILLER FURNITURE FACTORY BATH UK, 2012 GRIMSHAW

24
APPROACHES TO DECARBONISATION:
DESIGN FOR DISASSEMBLY

BATH SCHOOLS OF ART AND DESIGN BATH UK, 2019 GRIMSHAW

25
APPROACHES TO DECARBONISATION:
ADAPTIVE REUSE IN BUILDINGS

BATH SPA UNIVERSITY, BATH SCHOOLS OF ART & DESIGN BATH UK, 2020 26
1,420 tonnes CO2e of the existing building
carbon retained in total
(Approx 250 kgCO2e/m2)

Meets the 2030 Target for the RIBA Climate

Challenge for embodied energy

Large proportion of materials (= embodied

carbon) can be reused at end of life

BATH SCHOOLS OF ART AND DESIGN BATH UK, 2020 GRIMSHAW

 CIRCULAR ECONOMY:
DESIGN FOR ADAPTABILITY
+ DISASSEMBLY

CAMBRIDGE ENGINEERING BUILDING CAMBRIDGE UK, 2019 GRIMSHAW

28
DESIGN FOR DESIGN FOR
ADAPTABILITY DISASSEMBLY

CAMBRIDGE ENGINEERING BUILDING CAMBRIDGE UK, 2019 GRIMSHAW

CIRCUIT PROJECT

https://report.circuit-project.eu/

30 GRIMSHAW
The how to accelerate the circular economy

The Circular
Construction in
Regenerative Cities
report presents the key
learnings, tools,
methodologies and
recommendations
generated by the
Circular Construction in
Regenerative Cities
(CIRCuIT) project from
2019 to 2023 across the
cities of Copenhagen,
Hamburg, London and https://report.circuit-project.eu/chapter/data-
Vantaa/ Helsinki region. and-indicators-for-a-circular-built-environment

31 GRIMSHAW
CIRCUIT PROJECT:
KEY TAKEAWAYS APPLICABLE TO CONTRACTORS

• Skilled and experienced contractors will be crucial to support further

uptake of circular processes in the construction industry.

• Currently, there’s a lack of standard practice on how to identify and report

materials suitable for reuse and recycling.

• Many contractors are unaware of, or unable to implement, the demolition

processes that document and preserve building materials.

Source: Circular Construction in Regenerative Cities: Insights from the CIRCuIT project (2023)

32 GRIMSHAW
CIRCUIT PROJECT:
KEY TAKEAWAYS APPLICABLE TO CONTRACTORS

• One way of addressing this is via pre-demolition

audits (PDAs) which are not currently required
as part of the demolition process in most cities,
however PDAs are critical to driving recycling
and reuse in construction.

• CIRCUIT’s final 2023 report includes

recommendations to successfully embed PDAs in
city policy and a methodology for developing an
optimised PDA

Source: Circular Construction in Regenerative Cities: Insights from the CIRCuIT project (2023)

33 GRIMSHAW
CIRCUIT PROJECT:
KEY TAKEAWAYS APPLICABLE TO CONTRACTORS

• A business case is emerging for demolition

contractors who can achieve new revenue streams
by becoming retailers of recovered materials and by
becoming experts in urban mining, reclaiming
materials for reuse, remanufacturing, or high-
quality recycling.

• In one demonstrator project, deconstructing a steel

frame added £50/tonne to costs, but the resale
value is approximately £80/tonne, making it
financially viable for demolition contractors to sell.

Source: Circular Construction in Regenerative Cities: Insights from the CIRCuIT project (2023)

34 GRIMSHAW
CIRCUIT PROJECT:
KEY TAKEAWAYS APPLICABLE TO CONTRACTORS

• As well as increasing the reuse and recycling

of building materials, the importance of
futureproofing cities via designing for
disassembly and adaptability was also
highlighted.

• The CIRCuIT project explored what Designing

for Disassembly (DfD) and Designing for
Adaptability (DfA) looks like in practice via 12
demonstrator project as well as how these
approaches can be embedded in cities, and the
anticipated environmental and economic
benefits reaped via increase adoption.
Source: Circular Construction in Regenerative Cities: Insights from the CIRCuIT project (2023)

35 GRIMSHAW
SOLUTIONS: INFORMATION REQUIREMENTS
Why data is important!
Limited data leads to limited results – It is not possible for decision makers at any level
to identify key challenges and opportunities relating to the circular economy without
robust, quality data.

Accurate, reliable and complete data is needed – Modifying the circularity of a city
requires the availability of as much detailed data on as many relevant systems as possible.

Data enables circularity of material flows – The flow of resources is influenced by

decision makers who could use data to create circular material flows.

Standardisation is key to the exchange of data – The standardisation of units and

formats of datasets is key to facilitating and promoting the exchange of quality data
amongst different built environment stakeholders.
https://report.circuit-project.eu/chapter/data-and-indicators-for-a-circular-built-environment

36 GRIMSHAW
SOLUTIONS: INFORMATION REQUIREMENTS

Materials passports enable material reuse.

(ORMS, Materials Passports: Accelerating Material Reuse in Construction, 2024)

37 GRIMSHAW
SOLUTIONS: INFORMATION MANAGEMENT
Create, update and handover building
information models (BIM) to relevant
stakeholders, depending on building lifecycle
stage

BIM models will be essential in the circular economy:

• Allow the storage and sharing of data useful for circular
decision making between relevant stakeholders.
• With the right data they may be used to model the
whole life impacts different project approaches through
integration of life cycle costing, life cycle assessmnet
and social impact assessment approaches.
Madaster, a platform for circularity and embodied
carbon calculations’ interface (www.madaster.com)

40 GRIMSHAW
SOLUTIONS: INFORMATION MANAGEMENT

Integration of data into databases

• Create a database of services and

facilities assisting with circular
economy of the built environment

• Create a live database of material

stocks and flows

• Create a live building stock database

https://report.circuit-project.eu/chapter/data-and-indicators-for-a-
circular-built-environment Ref: https://apps.london.gov.uk/waste/

41 GRIMSHAW
CONCLUSIONS

We will need to move into the regenerative design of our cities which will involve the circular
construction.
It will require systems thinking (circularity is essential) as we re-design our cities and their
governance including the construction market. Looking at ways to maximise co-benefits and
information exchange will be key.
The challenges are:
• How do we extend the lives of buildings through transformation and refurbishment
(buildings of the right quality to last longer)?
• How do we increase the reuse and recycling of building materials (urban mining and re-
use)?
• How do we create a secondary construction materials market for Romania?

42 GRIMSHAW
CONTACT DETAILS

Dr Paul Toyne
Group practice leader sustainability, Grimshaw

paul.toyne@grimshaw.global

linkedin.com/in/paul-toyne-42286415

43 GRIMSHAW