Resource Use | UKGBC

Embracing Circular Economy Design principles and interconnected enablers for Sustainability

Daisy Everingham — Tue, 29 Aug 2023 10:28:29 +0000

On the basis of UKGBC’s publication System Enablers for a Circular Economy, the UKGBC Circular Economy Forum has reflected on the importance and role of circular economy design principles, its challenges, and how it relates to other enablers for a circular built environment.

Contributors	Organisation
Ana Ruiton Sarah Griffiths Matt Ingham Andrew Moore Timothy Mathew James Morton Adam Ozinsky	Mott MacDonald Mott Mac Donald CBRE Hilson Moran Hilson Moran Ramboll 3XN GXN

Circular economy design principles have been largely developed but still we find these concepts difficult to implement. For the designer to implement circular economy concepts there may be a need to change in how we structure our projects, how we procure the materials and how process and classify reclaimed materials. Rather than looking at this enabler in isolation, we need to take more of a systems approach, taking into account other enablers for circularity as well.

As a forum, we identified three key barriers that need to be overcome so that the circular design principles can be embraced across the industry. Currently, there is a lack of communication and early engagement which hinders the implementation of circular concepts. It has been frequently stated that the earlier we implement these concepts, the more we get out of these processes. Leading on from that, time and logistics usually force circularity out of our projects, with the impression that circularity increases programme. By understanding the concepts further and allowing for these processes to be baked into the programme will ensure an appropriate amount of time is allowed to ensure materials are retained and reused. The final area that we have addressed is the lack of storage and information of reclaimed materials, which has been underdeveloped and allows for little understanding of appropriate materials available at early design concepts. By looking at the constraints of these concepts we hope to outline the issues and possible solutions to ensure design concepts are implemented and circularity is increased in projects.

Lack of Collaboration / Early engagement

An early collaborative approach must be considered to communicate and explore the opportunities to implement circular principles by sharing designs, experiences and circumstances that encourage a circular approach.

Lack of collaboration or early engagement can lead to missed opportunities to incorporate circular economy principles, resulting in a linear approach to building design and construction. There are several stakeholders, such as contractors, that may not be involved in the early design stages that restrains the implementation of circular economy principles in the design of a project. This is because there is usually a knowledge gap between the designers and contractors.

Solution: Therefore, an early collaborative approach must be considered to communicate and explore the opportunities to implement circular principles by sharing designs, experiences and circumstances that encourage a circular approach, highlighting the need for education across the industry.

Learn more about Collaboration and Early Engagement here.

Timing and Logistics

Additionally, logistics and program timing can pose several challenges when implementing circular economy strategies, as they require changes in early design stages, supply chain management, delivery and production methods. This includes reverse logistics for collecting and processing waste and recycling processes, demolition is considered cheaper and faster than taking a construction apart piece by piece.

Solution: Multiple stakeholders can take multiple actions to improve the logistics and reduce the timing of projects. For example, the design team can identify areas where a standardised modular design approach could improve efficiency in construction to potentially reduce the programme time; contractors can propose modern construction solutions and produce an early forecast on construction programs once they have collaboration and early engagement in the design to reduce waste and improve the circularity of the project. As a result, manufacturers can identify early in the process any factor that may impact the logistics of the project, as the lead times for the production of material that contain secondary content.

Aligning a multi disciplinary team on a project at the start gives the opportunity to identify potential for optimisation, effectiveness and embed circular practices deeper into the design – Designing buildings and infrastructure that are adaptable, flexible and durable, allowing them to be easily repurposed, disassembled or reused in the future. Multidisciplinary teams can maximise the benefits of Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA) by bringing manufacturing, assembly and logistics knowledge upstream in the project to assess criteria such as buildability, standardisation and modularity. This will help to ensure that the construction and production phase of the project are well planned and executed efficiently.

Lack of storage and information of reclaimed materials

To overcome the shortage of storage of secondary materials, with the efforts of developers, national governments, and local authorities, ‘reuse hubs’ can be an affordable solution to deconstructed materials to be stored and remanufactured to perform as a secondary materials market.

Although there is growing aspirational trend for the use of reclaimed material from demolition waste in the built environment, it comes with challenges such as storage of these materials and associated costs; attaining guarantees or warranties on such materials due to lack of standardisation and difficulties in verifying their quality; and limited understanding of reclaimed materials such as the materials’ origin, lifecycle, and technical properties, etc. which can pose as a risk to other stakeholders such as contractors and clients.

Solution: Several solutions can be adopted to mitigate these barriers to implementing circular economy principles. To overcome the shortage of storage of secondary materials, with the efforts of developers, national governments, and local authorities, ‘reuse hubs’ can be an affordable solution to deconstructed materials to be stored and remanufactured to perform as a secondary materials market.

Using digital solutions, such as material passports, to act as a tool by accumulating building materials’ information to provide more credibility on existing materials for future procurement on the secondary materials market. Moreover, digital solutions can also connect multiple stakeholders to indicate the availability of these recovered materials on the secondary market.

At a macro level, the industry would benefit with a legislative body that mandates and governs manufacturers to enhance the level of detail of their data sheets. These documents may include details like recycled content, carbon impact, end-of-life scenarios, etc. which will assist design teams to make better-informed decisions to facilitate the principles of circular economy.

Additionally, by establishing standardised warranty and certification programs for recovered materials with the help of other stakeholders in the industry, circular economy principles can be met to prolong the value of materials by ensuring businesses to incorporate the use of secondary material in their projects.

Associated costs do play a crucial role, however, there needs to be a different way of thinking, and investment mechanisms and green financing to enable scale for teams and specifiers. The implementation of circular economy design principles has a massive potential of tackling climate crises if implemented on a mass scale, however, the current challenge is to implement it on a project-to-project basis.

Conclusion

In conclusion, while Circular Economy Design principles are pivotal for sustainable resource management, it is crucial to recognize that their successful implementation cannot occur in isolation. The UKGBC’s report on “Systems Enablers for Circular Economy” highlights in more detail the intricate web of interconnected factors that shape successful circularity.

By recognising the mutually beneficial relationship between Circular Economy Design principles and other critical enablers, designers and architects are invited to take on this challenge. Professionals can find tailored actions for stakeholders at every level by diving deeper into the insights provided in the UKGBC’s Systems Enablers report. This collective effort will drive collaborative progress, advancing Circular Economy in the Built Environment and forging a more sustainable future.

This blog was written by members of UKGBC’s Circular Economy Forum. Would you be interested in joining the forum? It’s open to any UKGBC member with expertise in circular economy.

If you want to learn more about the enablers for a circular economy, you can join our new learning webinar on 5th September that will explore the findings of the System Enablers report.

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Commercial Retrofit and the Circular Economy – Site Tour of the Entopia Building, Cambridge

Shruti Sawant — Tue, 08 Aug 2023 14:34:14 +0000

The built environment is responsible for 25% of total UK emissions, with embodied carbon making up 20% of that, as shown by UKGBC’s Whole Life Net Zero Carbon Roadmap. Transitioning to a circular economy will play a key role in reducing embodied carbon emissions as well as reducing our resource extraction, bringing wider benefits to biodiversity and nature.

Similarly, the operation of existing non-domestic buildings is responsible for 23% of built environment emissions. Retrofitting our existing buildings without adversely increasing embodied carbon emissions is a key challenge we need to address in our transition to net zero. Our How Circular Economy Principles can impact carbon and value report explored the opportunities circular economy design principles can offer to reduce whole life carbon, and how this can be valued in built assets.

To bring to life the opportunities and lessons learned from a recent pilot project that explored this challenge, UKGBC is hosting a site tour of CISL’s Entopia building – a case study featured in our report last year, targeting WELL Gold rating, BREEAM Outstanding, and EnerPHit Classic.

Being joined by ISG and Architype the tour will include presentations from the design and delivery teams outlining the range of sustainability interventions introduced and key lessons learned, followed by post-tour refreshments and networking.

Why attend?

Deepen understanding of how to retrofit non-residential buildings and minimise embodied carbon impacts
Raise awareness of the value of circular design principles and whole life carbon reductions
Explore solutions, challenges and lessons learned first-hand from the design and delivery teams
Network with fellow built environment professionals

Who should attend?

Built environment professionals focused on the retrofit and/or the fit-out of commercial buildings who are looking to include circular design principles in their work and reduce whole life carbon emissions.

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System Enablers for a Circular Economy Part 2

Matilda Prescott — Mon, 07 Aug 2023 14:19:40 +0000

A circular economy is a pivotal part of the puzzle to solve the climate and nature crises. The built environment can play a major role in creating a thriving circular economy.  In the UK, construction, demolition and excavation account for 60% of material use and waste generation. To support the built environment to transition away from a linear economy and towards circularity, UKGBC has published several guidance reports from its Circular Economy programme.

Eight months post launch of our most recent Resource Use publication System Enablers for a Circular Economy report, UKGBC is hosting a webinar to explore these findings further and bring to life the eight enablers identified, showcasing case studies and learnings from our members’ experiences.

Expert speakers from the UKGBC membership will will showcase their circular economy projects, relating the success of these to the system enablers in our latest publication.

This webinar series is split in two parts, each touching on a selection of different enablers.

Part 1: 5th September 2023 will cover

Circular design principles
Secondary Materials Markets
Tax and Legislation
Green contracts and leases

Part 2: 28th September 2023 will cover

Collaboration
Education
Metrics, benchmarks, and indicators
Green finance

Who should attend?

Built environment professionals with an interest in circularity.

Registration is free for all UKGBC members. Find out more on the many benefits of UKGBC membership here.

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System Enablers for a Circular Economy Part 1

Shruti Sawant — Tue, 25 Jul 2023 08:16:34 +0000

Expert speakers from the UKGBC membership will will showcase their circular economy projects, relating the success of these to the system enablers in our latest publication.

This webinar series is split in two parts, each touching on a selection of different enablers.

Part 1: 5th September 2023 will cover

Circular design principles
Secondary Materials Markets
Tax and Legislation
Green contracts and leases

Part 2: 28th September 2023 will cover

Collaboration
Education
Metrics, benchmarks, and indicators
Green finance

Who should attend?

Built environment professionals with an interest in circularity.

Registration is free for all UKGBC members. Find out more on the many benefits of UKGBC membership here.

The post System Enablers for a Circular Economy Part 1 appeared first on UKGBC.

Toilet Leak Sensors

Caroline Morell — Mon, 24 Jul 2023 14:24:09 +0000

Problem addressed

There are an estimated 50m+ toilets in the UK, and according to Waterwise, 5-8% of toilets are leaking. Dual flush toilets, introduced in the 1980’s are susceptible to leaking, and undetectable leaks (invisible to the naked eye) can waste 11 litres or water per hour.

To put this into perspective, if 10% of leaks are undetectable that is an estimated 218,000 Olympic sized swimming pools of fresh water being wasted and all the associated energy required in filtering and pumping that water.

The cost of this water can result in higher than expected bills too.

Solution overview

The Aguardio Sensor can identify leaks down to 4 litres per hour, it has a 10+ year battery and costs just over a 1p /day.

The Aguardio Leak Sensor is also capable of counting toilet flushes. This can be used to gain insights into individual toilet usage which could be used to assist with cleaning routines and preventative maintenance. The sensor is very simple to install by connecting the unit to the toilet in the water inlet pipe with a plastic tie. The sensor is fitted with temperature sensors, one measures the pipe temperature and the other the ambient temperature. The sensor takes a reading every 3^rd second so if there is a water leak cooler water will be drawn into the pipework and the sensor will pick it up. The connected version can detect flushes as the temperature change will be more significant. When a leaking toilet is detected, the sensors trigger an alarm that alerts residents to address the issue promptly by calling the service staff. The technology has been tested by Teknologisk Institut, the leading independent test institute in Denmark.

The solutions also has some health benefits. For example care homes could also monitor occupant’s toilet usage which could be an indication of their health status. In hospitals it can be used to monitor toilet usage and hand washes routines to ensure people are actually washing their hands in proportion to toilet usage. With suitable nudges, Aguardio has seen improvements of hygiene routines.

Cost of the product depends on quantities and whether it is used as a standalone item or connected to the Aguardio Hub, but they typically cost approximately £30-£50 per item. Since a slight toilet leak can result in an additional usage of 100m3 of water per year this could cost in the region of £250 per year. There is no maintenance, and the battery will last in excess of 10 years.

Case study

Aguardio has installed these in several locations in Europe, including being used by Denmark’s 4^th largest housing company. The company ordered 12,000 sensors to be deployed in stages, with each stages insights informing the next. Based on the installation of 3660 sensors the sensors have proven to be highly effective. The sensors also detected toilet leakages as high as 17%. Find out more about this case study here.

£35-£50

10+

This page presents data, evidence, and solutions that are provided by our partners and members and should therefore not be attributed to UKGBC. While we showcase these solutions for inspiration, to build consensus, and create momentum for climate action, UKGBC does not offer commercial endorsement of individual solutions. If you would like to quote something from this page, or more information, please contact our Communications team at media@ukgbc.org.

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Impact Report 22-23

Daisy Everingham — Thu, 20 Jul 2023 09:00:00 +0000

UKGBC’s Impact Report 22-23 documents the transformational impact our network had over a financial year with collaboration at its heart. Its the first of our Impact Reports to track our activities in line with our 2025 strategy and goals, with the aims pushing for climate action further and faster.

This financial year saw the launch of new opportunities for radical collaboration between our members, like the Collaboration Cafés and Local Authority Retrofit Forum, providing spaces and networks for knowledge sharing and problem solving. Circular Economy was central in this year’s Advancing Net Zero programme, with the release of two industry leading reports and a record number of individuals being involved in ANZ work. This financial year also saw us hit the milestone of 700 members, with over 9,000 active member contacts.

As the final year of Julie Hirigoyen’s leadership, it was a year where our industry and society at large grappled with the climate and ecological crises; epitomised by the reaction to the extreme heat of summer 2022. Progress is being made across the built environment, but we must take the impact from this year and accelerate it in both business and government if we are to avert climate and ecological breakdown.

Download7.30 Mb

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Advancing Net Zero: Essential Knowledge Series

Matilda Prescott — Wed, 19 Jul 2023 14:04:10 +0000

The need for rapid decarbonisation is clear. The impacts of climate change are being felt here and now, with average global temperature records being broken across the summer. We need to accelerate action to mitigate our impacts on our planet. But we’re not moving fast enough. The Whole Life Carbon Roadmap indicates that continuing business as usual would see the sector fall well short of the 2050 net zero target.

Organisations across the built environment value chain need to play their part in reaching net zero, and each and every person in those organisations can support the transformation.

That means you!

‘Net zero’ can appear confusing, complicated, and highly challenging to achieve, but UKGBC are here to help you understand what this means, why it’s important and what actions you can take.

This webinar series will build your core net zero knowledge through exploring key concepts, ideas and solutions needed to reach net zero across our built environment. Each session will delve into a new subject, from measuring carbon, to retrofit and much more.

UKGBC’s Advancing Net Zero team will provide expert guidance across the series, alongside inspirational examples of success and case studies from UKGBC members. Each session will allow for questions, giving you the opportunity to ask our experts and guests anything you want.

Series detail

Each webinar will run from 09:30 – 10:25 GMT (with an extended Q&A from 10:25-10:45)

The subjects covered and dates are as follows:

1. Advancing Net Zero in the Built Environment – An Introduction – Friday 22 September

2. Net Zero in Organisations – Friday 29 September

3. Defining, Designing, and Delivering Net Zero Carbon Buildings – Friday 13 October

4. Whole Life Carbon and the Circular Economy – Friday 27 October

5. Procuring Renewable Energy and Carbon Offsets – Friday 10 November

6. Retrofitting the UK’s Built Environment – Friday 24 November

Why attend?

Every one of us needs to be part of the journey to a net zero, sustainable built environment. As organisations set carbon reduction targets and progress towards more sustainable business objectives, it’s important to understand some of these key concepts to ensure you are not left behind.

From attending this series, you will:

Understand what net zero carbon means, and how it can be achieved in the built environment sector.
See how organisations are already rising to the challenge.
Be inspired to participate in sustainability action in your organisation.
Know where to find further UKGBC resources and learning

Who should attend?

These sessions are designed for anyone who’s interested in knowing more about net zero in the built environment – they’re open to all. They will cover essential knowledge, not detailed, technical advice.

You could be early in your career, or keen to know more about what net zero means for your team or role, or you may have recognised that you need to know more on this topic to succeed in your organisation. Either way, this series will give you the essential knowledge you need to support the decarbonisation of the built environment.

Discounts:

For non-members attending all six webinars, contact events@UKGBC.org to get the final session for free.

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System to flush toilets with waste water from AC units

Caroline Morell — Wed, 12 Jul 2023 15:35:53 +0000

Problem addressed

Billions of litres of condensate water from air conditioning units are drained to waste every year, and this is only going to increase as demand for air conditioning rises as a result of the climate crisis. Alongside this, many places are becoming more water stressed, yet clean and expensive mains water is often used to flush toilets.

Solution overview

Encore Cistern enables condensate from air conditioning units to be stored and recycled as flushing water for toilets. The cistern works exactly like a traditional cistern with the exception that it has an extra filling connection to allow a separate water source to be introduced (from the air conditioning unit). The Encore can hold 18 litres of water; three times more than traditional cisterns. Despite this the Cistern has no additional spatial requirements, it is designed to fit in standard service voids. The Encore has a dual-chamber design. When the air conditioning system is in use, both chambers are filled with condensate, and when the toilet is flushed, the lower chamber is replenished by the upper chamber, to ensure a quick refill. If there are multiple flushes in a short period of time, the Encore cistern is filled the conventional way.

The Encore cistern can be used in all concealed toilet installations, both new and existing, and is the first and only cistern to give BREEAM credits and LEED points. In addition the materials in the cistern are fully recyclable.

Case study

Encore installed their cisterns in Warrington with a global facilities management company to demonstrate that condensate does play a major role in sustainability, even here in the UK. Recovering condensate waste that is normally sent to drain will not only save users money, it will also help achieve water conservation goals, saving billions of litres of water each year.

Installing Encore’s cisterns and metering the mains water gave an overall usage of each toilet. Data obtained from June 2018 – November 2019 clearly highlights the Encore’s water-saving abilities.

The traditional toilet used 85,882 litres, whilst the Encore cistern 1 used 11,753 litres and Encore cistern 2 used 26,481 litres.

Combined consumptions of the two Encore cisterns, and taking the average showed an incredible water saving of 66,765 litres and an impressive £212.98 based on water rates including waste @£3.19m³

Annual savings based on the figures above using the traditional cistern and Encore cistern 2, would show a ROI in 15 months based on the cost of a single unit being £160.00.

12-36

£160

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Waste monitoring sensors

Caroline Morell — Mon, 10 Jul 2023 17:08:08 +0000

Problem addressed

On a daily basis, we generate approximately 1.5-2.5 kg of waste for which we lack proper disposal methods. The regulations regarding waste collection are confusing and vary across different boroughs which makes it difficult to efficiently gather data and compare recycling rates.

Solution overview

ReLearn wants to revolutionise the waste sorting system. ReLearn’s smart sensor, NANDO, is the solution to constantly monitor waste production with professional reporting while spreading sustainable practices to the community in an engaging way.

ReLearn installs the small IoT sensor on a customer’s existing bins and then uses artificial intelligence to collect data on the amount and type of waste produced on a daily basis.

NANDO reports the quantity and quality of waste through precise data on a dashboard creating a professional report according to the GRI 306 standard. Customers are also able to monitor their live recycling rate, recycling trends and projected recycling patterns.

NANDO spreads sustainable practices to achieve the best recycling rate in an office space. To increase community involvement and effectively transfer corporate values, internal challenges can be developed between different floors or different locations through the platform. ReLearn also uses the data to identify the most common mistakes in waste differentiation and then educate users on how to correct them.

NANDO increases the availability of waste information for sustainability reporting avoiding fines. It also increases ESG score by monitoring and improving waste performance and improves LEED score with waste monitoring. NANDO is a partner of Arc Skoru and the US Green Building Council.

ReLearn’s business model is based on an activation fee per installer sensor and an annual subscription fee per sensor.

Case study

There are more than 400 active NANDOs in 5 countries (UK, Italy, Denmark, Spain, Belgium) involving 10k users per month. NANDO operates in more than 18 international companies: United Nation, WeWork, Edison-EDF Group, Alibaba, Deloitte, A2A Group, FTP Industrial, Mediatree etc. NANDO is the official ZeroWaste tool commercialized by two largest facilities management companies worldwide: ISS and Sodexo.

NANDO is the winner of Horizon Price and ReLearn is working with the EU to certify NANDO as the first official European ZeroWaste monitoring tool.

+58 %

-60 %

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Reused Steel Stockmatcher

Emily Rose garnett — Mon, 26 Jun 2023 12:33:38 +0000

Problem Addressed

Finding suitable sections from a list of reclaimed steel by hand is a challenging task. It requires design teams to look over lists and find sections that match the properties and lengths required for its use case.

Solution overview

The HTS Stockmatcher is a python-based selection tool built to assist procurement of reclaimed steel for use in new construction projects.

The system compares two lists of information: a list of reclaimed steel, and a list of design steel. It finds where design elements may be substituted with reclaimed elements. The matching process considers geometric and simple structural properties, along with the waste produced through offcuts and over-specification. The Stockmatcher reviews all suitable substitutions and returns the most efficient matches. The hope is that it will facilitate the wider adoption of reused steel, accelerating practical application of circular economy principles and help to reduce the industry’s significant carbon footprint.

The tool is free to use.

Case study

6-10 St. Andrew Street, a refurbishment project in the City of London. Using the HTS Stockmatcher, 82% of the new steelwork required has been matched with suitable re-used elements, avoiding 24t of new virgin steelwork needing to be procured.

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Resource Use | UKGBC

Embracing Circular Economy Design principles and interconnected enablers for Sustainability

Lack of Collaboration / Early engagement

Timing and Logistics

Lack of storage and information of reclaimed materials

Conclusion

Circular Economy

Circular Economy Forum Partners

Commercial Retrofit and the Circular Economy – Site Tour of the Entopia Building, Cambridge

System Enablers for a Circular Economy Part 2

System Enablers for a Circular Economy Part 1

Toilet Leak Sensors

Problem addressed

Solution overview

Case study

Facts and Figures

Cost per item

Years of battery life

Impact Report 22-23

Download the Impact Report here

UKGBC Impact Report 2022-23

Advancing Net Zero: Essential Knowledge Series

System to flush toilets with waste water from AC units

Problem addressed

Solution overview

Case study

Facts and Figures

Months return on investment

Cost of single unit

Waste monitoring sensors

Problem addressed

Solution overview

Case study

Facts and Figures

improvement in recycling rate

Cost savings

Reused Steel Stockmatcher

Problem Addressed

Solution overview

Case study