What is Circular Economy in regenerative Real Estate?
How do we define circular economy?
The built environment is one of many man-made systems that typically operates as a linear process - it involves the extraction, use of, and eventual disposal of resources.
Sustainability experts describe this as an unnatural model as it accumulates immense amounts of waste and contributes to the negative impacts of the built environment on our planet.
This is in contrast to nature itself, a closed loop system that does not produce any waste.
For example, it has been found that 25-30% of the waste generated in the EU comes from manufacturing and construction waste, and 10% of global CO2 emissions come from steel and cement production (Acharya).
This makes steel and cement as the two main building raw materials to watch when it comes to reducing embodied carbon in a new construction and a transition towards more circular economy aims and alternative business models that consider economic growth in the context of a company’s greenhouse gas emissions and social impact, for example.
The circular economy real estate response
A circular economy perspective applied to a high-waste and high-growth system like the built environment can have meaningful impacts for all stakeholders involved through waste reduction and increased value of assets.
The overall goal of a circular economy approach to real estate is to manage the components of the built environment by keeping them in the loop, rather than producing waste for landfill, this means materials and products retain some of their intrinsic value for longer (Acharya).
3 Principles of Circular Economy: The Ellen Macarthur Foundation
The Ellen Macarthur Foundation is a leader in this realm, promoting the ideas and concepts around the circular economy, aiming to create an economic system that is better for both people and planet.
The foundation has designated three main principles of a circular economy that are considered the backbone of the concept:
eliminate waste and pollution
circulate products and materials
regenerate nature (Circular)
eliminate waste in circular economy real estate
The first principle, to eliminate waste and pollution works to override the current “take-make-waste” system that our economy recklessly deploys without much concern for future generations. The waste that is produced from the built environment commonly ends up in landfills and those resources are lost, depleting our global stores.
In order to instate this first principle in real estate particularly therefore, buildings must first be designed to reduce and eliminate waste at all stages of their lifecycle, while shifting from a linear system to a circular economy system using circular design products.
This includes strategies such as applying life cycle assessments to understand materials at end of life, and choosing materials and products that can be reused, repaired, remanufactured, and recycled (Circular).
See our dedicated HEALTHY MATERIALS page here.
circulate products and materials in circular economy real estate
The second principle, to keep products and materials in the loop, focuses on keeping them in use in the highest value form for as long as possible. This retains the value and usability of those materials while reducing extraction of additional natural resources from the planet.
Such products and materials can be kept in circulation through reuse, repair, remanufacturing, or recycling. In addition, biodegradable materials that often naturally decompose can be cycled back into the earth and circulated into the biological cycle.
To promote this strategy, designers should consider the ability for a product or material to be integrated into a cycle at end of life. For example, if wooden furniture was designed with biodegradable glues and paints rather than materials such as screws, they could be entirely biodegradable and more easily circulated (Circular).
regenerating nature in circular economy real estate
The third and final principle, to regenerate nature, is implemented through the conversion to a circular economy and the promotion of natural processes and cycles.
Through this principle, the extraction of resources should be shifted to their regeneration, which will in turn provide more space for nature as less land is required to source virgin materials.
This can be implemented within the built environment through careful material selection and use. If we shift the priority to not only doing less harm to the environment but improving it, nature can be regenerated through the incorporation of a circular economy and principles (Circular).
Building-Level Circular Economy
The circular economy can be applied at a building level through the consideration of its entire ecosystem and lifecycle. The principles can be implemented in the design, sourcing, construction, operations, renewal, disassembly, and repurposing processes. The goal is to integrate all building phases with one another and plan for a closed loop cycle from the onset of design (Ellen)
The design process should include operation and performance strategies and incorporate energy-efficient approaches. Modularity and adaptability should be a focus and can include strategies such as selecting efficient resources that are easily reusable, durable, and flexible. Construction can aid in efficiencies through strategies such as modular building or off-site construction to reduce waste production (Ellen).
In the in-use phase, buildings should incorporate self-sufficient methods to mimic a living system, such as water capture and reuse systems, or a net positive solar production and storage system. We can look to natural systems for a guide, and whenever possible buildings should utilize and create self-fulfilling cycles (Ellen).
End of life is often the most forgotten yet one of the most important factors of a circular economy. Buildings must be designed for longevity, which can come in the form of durability, flexibility, or adaptability. Structures should have the capability to easily shift to another use if the initial use is no longer desired through disassembly and reconfiguration or shifted off-site for another use.
The goal at end of life is to maintain all building products and materials at their highest value possible through reuse. If this is not possible, as with the case of many organic materials, they can biodegrade back into the earth and close the loop, giving back to the earth from which they were extracted (Ellen).
Cradle to Cradle Certification in real estate
The Cradle to Cradle Certified Product Standard is a global standard that recognizes products and materials that are circular, responsibly made, and healthy. This standard is a great starting point for material decision-making as it provides materials that align with circular economy goals.
The certified materials have been proven to be safe for both humans and the environment, and at end of life are guaranteed available for reuse without further pollution or contamination. When selecting materials, searching for this certification is a great indicator for a smart choice.
In addition, as recommended by the Cradle to Cradle website, Materiom is an open source platform that provides locally-sourced biological material “recipes”.
Integration with Sustainable Building Certification Systems
Sustainable building certification standards such as LEED, BREEAM, WELL, and the Living Building Challenge (LBC) encourage the use of circular economy concepts and products throughout a building’s design process.
These certification systems can provide guidance and direction for project teams looking for ways to implement circular economy principles into their real estate developments.
Each of the various standards encourage the use of water retention / reuse and rainwater management, forming closed-loop water cycles within buildings.
In particular LEED, BREEAM, and the LBC mention the importance of producing and using renewable energy and the incorporation of passive design, encouraging circular building design through self-sufficient energy strategies, whenever possible - most obviously in new build real estate construction.
In addition, each of these standards has a focus on choosing sustainable building materials that provide transparency and reduce waste opportunities at end of life.
Finally, each standard requires waste reduction and management throughout the design process and through smart material sourcing.
The LBC also contains the “Place” Petal, whose goal is to encourage ecological regeneration, connecting to the third principle of the circular economy as outlined above.
The WELL standard also touches some circular economy approaches through the mention of hazardous waste management and reduction, material transparency, and carbon disclosures and reduction.
Examples of Circular Design in Real Estate
There are many buildings in existence that utilize circular design principles. As highlighted by the Ellen Macarthur foundation, examples such as Villa Welpeloo (above) designed by Superuse Studios and Arup’s circular building pilot project (see video earlier in this article) both provide inspiration.
The Villa Welpeloo project focused on building locally with salvaged materials, highlighting the impacts of reusing resources that would otherwise become waste. Within the project, Superuse was able to include 60% locally recovered materials, which is now a strategy utilized in 90% of the company’s projects (Ellen).
In Arup’s circular building pilot project, they focused on creating a building that could easily be disassembled and re-fabricated if needed, designing for adaptability, and using the structure as a functioning material bank.
In addition, each material was carefully selected with a transparency and health focus instated from the beginning. Using BIM technology, the project team tagged each material with information on its properties and reuse capabilities to make collaboration across disciplines easier and to ensure the incorporation of the circular design principles (Ellen).
References
Acharya, Devni, et al. 2018, From Principles to Practices: First Steps towards a Circular Built Environment , Arup, The Ellen Macarthur Foundation, 3XN GXN. Accessed 9 June 2022.
“Circular Economy Introduction.” Ellen MacArthur Foundation, https://ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/topics/circular-economy-introduction/overview
Ellen Macarthur Foundation, 2019, Circular Economy in Cities. Accessed 9 June 2022.
Zimmann, Rainer, et al. ARUP, The Circular Economy in the Built Environment.