Academic institutions have a key role to play in providing leadership and support for the built environment sector through educational provision and applied research. This section provides resources for educators who wish to upskill and embed circular economy principles across the curriculum.
WOOL2LOOP provides new smart demolition and sorting technologies combined with a novel analysis method for mineral wool waste that enables separating the material based on its suitability for alkali-activation. Geopolymer technology makes it possible to use mineral wool waste as a valuable resource for new ceramic or concrete-type products as pioneered by University of Oulu,
Build-in-Wood is a European funded Horizon 2020 project with the goal of drastically increasing the proportion of timber construction. https://www.build-in-wood.eu/
ProCirc brings together 8 public and 3 private sector organisations that will leverage 30 plus circular procurement pilots with a combined value of €40M to address this. Each pilot aims to reduce 20-25% raw materials, waste, and CO2 emissions. https://northsearegion.eu/procirc/about/
This project aims to increase by +50%, the amount of reclaimed building elements being circulated in its territory by 2032. https://www.nweurope.eu/projects/project-search/fcrbe-facilitating-the-circulation-of-reclaimed-building-elements-in-northwestern-europe/#tab-1
The SCREEN Policy Lab was established in 2017 by the 17 European Regions involved in the SCREEN project and included representatives of the European Commission Directorates concerned about the Circular Economy Action Plan. https://www.screen-lab.eu/
REPLACE has the goal of integrating, deploying, and capitalizing on lessons learnt through the H2020 project SCREEN by engaging policymakers and managing authorities with the common objective of improving Regional Operational Programmes (ROPs) to enhance CE performances, aligning with the European Commission’s Circular Economy Action Plan. https://projects2014-2020.interregeurope.eu/replace/
The CONDEREFF team of 8 partners across 7 countries explored how to move from existing CDW management practice to resource efficiency best practice. The project aims to produce 7 policy action plans, 10 policy lessons learned policy briefs, a CDW tracking toolkit and a compendium of best practice. https://www.interregeurope.eu/condereff/
Cost-Effective Recycling of CDW in High Added Value Energy Efficient Prefabricated Concrete Components for Massive Retrofitting of our Built Environment (VEEP) (2016-2021) The main aim of the VEEP project (https://www.veep-project.eu/home.aspx) is to develop a series of retrofitting technological solutions i.e., two novel multi-layer precast concrete elements (PCEs) using concrete and superinsulation material manufactured by using
The main aim of the HISER project was to develop and demonstrate novel cost-effective holistic solutions (technological and non-technological) for a higher recovery of raw materials from ever more complex construction and demolition waste (C&DW) by considering circular economy approaches throughout the building value chain (from End-of-Life Buildings to new Buildings). https://www.hiserproject.eu/
REFLOW is an EU H2020 funded project that seeks to understand and transform urban material flows, co-create and test regenerative solutions at business, governance, and citizen levels to create a resilient circular economy.
The FISSAC project involved 26 partners across 9 countries at all levels of the construction and demolition value chain to develop a methodology, and software platform to facilitate information exchange, that can support industrial symbiosis networks and replicate pilot schemes at local and regional levels. The project aimed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the processes,
The SeRaMcO project (https://www.nweurope.eu/projects/project-search/seramco-secondary-raw-materials-for-concrete-precast-products/#tab-1) across five countries (Belgium, France, Luxemburg, the Netherlands and Germany) aimed to replace primary raw materials with the high-quality materials recycled from CDW, e.g., concrete, bricks, tiles, and ceramics (CBTC) in the production of the cement and concrete products for use in North-West Europe (NEW).
