Circular economy in the UK building sector: a framework for implementation
Creators: name: Adams, Katherine
Publisher: name: Loughborough University
Year: 2021
Subjects: Other built environment and design not elsewhere classified

description: The circular economy concept is becoming more important against a backdrop of increased population growth and prosperity, ultimately resulting in the growth of the unsustainable use of the Earth’s resources, with much of this ending up as waste with little or no value. The building sector through its provision of homes, schools, hospitals and places of work is by far the greatest consumer of resources and producer of waste when compared to other sectors. Whilst the sector has successfully achieved high recycling rates, most of this waste is downcycled where the value, quality and functionality are lower than the original product; moreover, the resources, that the sector uses are largely from primary sources and material costs are rising. Whereas sustainable buildings have been receiving growing attention in the last decade, there has been less focus on the circular economy. Policymakers and industry are starting to recognise these concerns by the development of various circular economy strategies, action plans and roadmaps; however, progress is slow. Circular economy in the building sector means that buildings should be designed to create minimal waste by being long-lasting, allowing them to be easily repaired and refurbished, and to be deconstructed at end of life, so the products and materials within can be reused or recycled, maintaining their value, where possible. Whilst there are an increasing number of circular economy academic and practitioner studies published, its implementation is still in its infancy and research is fragmented. Specific sector frameworks are needed to assist in implementing circular economy and whilst a few have been developed in the building sector, they largely focus on one or a few circular economy aspects and on one or a few stages of a building or supply chain stakeholders, even though the various benefits of encompassing all these aspects are evident. Hence, this research sought to fill this gap with an aim to examine the concept of circular economy within the context of the UK building sector. It also explored how a circular economy can be implemented for a building project, covering the whole lifecycle. This was achieved through the development of an industry reviewed framework. The research was based on a mixed method design employing a variety of data collection techniques which complemented and built on each other. From a literature review, the existing circular economy theories, principles and approaches and their current and potential applicability in the building sector were investigated, as well as barriers and enablers. These findings were developed further by investigating how these applied in practice, with a snapshot undertaken for the UK building sector based on an industry questionnaire, resulting in 110 responses, together with 4 focus groups at an industry event, with 97 attendees. This provided much quantitative data on the current state of play and the perspectives of key stakeholders, together with the relative importance of the barriers and enablers and insightful qualitative data on the trends and relationships. An in-depth investigation was undertaken to establish how circular economy approaches in the building sector could be adopted through the development of critical success factors (CSFs). This was undertaken through a supply chain workshop with 25 representatives who identified and clustered CSFs, resulting in the identification of eight thematic CSFs. To enable a greater understanding of how these could be implemented at a building project level, semi-structured interviews were held with 13 participants, representing the typical parts of a supply chain. This was complemented with a pre-interview questionnaire, in which the interviewees ranked the CSFs for priority, timescale and ease for implementation, which formed the basis for discussion. This resulted in the identification of 56 CSF subfactors. Also examined was the potential of applying circular economy principles to building types and lifecycle stages, and the level of stakeholder influence. This data culminated in the development of a circular economy framework with multiple levels encompassing the sectoral barriers and enablers and their inter-relationship, and at a building project level, the CSFs and subfactors, cross-linked to the enablers. An industry review was undertaken on the framework through a questionnaire and focus group. Data was obtained at this focus group for which project lifecycle stages each CSF subfactors should be implemented and which stakeholders should be involved, and who should lead. This research has provided the novel contribution of how circular economy aspects can be applied in the building sector, from firstly a sector perspective and secondly a project perspective. This includes the categorisation and relationship of sectoral barriers and enablers, which translate into detailed CSFs and subfactors at a project level, to be implemented across a project’s lifecycle, for all aspects of material circularity, involving the key parts of a project supply chain. This framework can be used as a platform for the sector to move towards a more circular built environment.