It is imperative that students are fully aware of the circular economy and how it applies to the built environment to empower them to lead the transition over the coming years. This section outlines opportunities to pursue qualifications in this area, undertake research and explore industry best practice.
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).
The RE4 project (was a collaborative research project of 13 partner institutions, which aimed to develop a prefabricated energy-efficient building concept that can be easily assembled and disassembled for future reuse, containing up to 65% in weight of recycled materials from CDW (ranging from 50% for the medium replacement of the mineral fraction, up to
URGE brings together nine cities and their stakeholders to inspire and learn from each other in developing their integrated urban policy and to support the integration of circularity in the construction tasks, thus contributing to sustainable cities. https://urbact.eu/networks/urge
The project aims to create innovative circular economy-based solutions demonstrating the Efficient recovery of valuable material Resources from the Generation of representative End-of-Life building materials.
The project aims to accelerate deep renovation processes by enhancing a consumer cantered circular renovation process to make deep renovation environmentally friendly, cost effective and more attractive for consumers and investors.
The Cinderela project (https://www.cinderela.eu/) aims to assist companies in developing circular business models based on waste-to-resource opportunities. The project is a consortium of 13 partners across 7 countries (Slovenia, Italy, Serbia, Spain, Poland, Netherlands, Macedonia), which will focus on the following themes assessing waste-to-resource opportunities; design, development, and testing; environmental, economic, and social assessment; building
The Houseful project (www.houseful.eu) aims to develop innovative circular solutions and services for the housing sector. Eleven circular solutions will be co-created by stakeholders in the current housing value chain and will be tested at a large-scale in four demonstration sites in Austria and Spain. The proposed solutions will take a life cycle approach incorporating
CityLoops (https://cityloops.eu/) is an EU-funded project focusing on biowaste, and construction and demolition waste (CDW) across seven European cities (Apeldoorn, Bodø, Høje-Tasstrup, Mikkeli, Porto, Roskilde, Seville), which are piloting a series of demonstration actions with the aim of achieving material circularity. The project is developing a series of interventions that will embed circularity within the
