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Project title

Circular Built Environment Playbook

Primary Funding Agency

Environmental Protection Agency

Co-Funding Organisation(s)

Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine (DAFM)

Lead Organisation

Irish Green Building Council

Lead Applicant

Pat Barry

Project Abstract

Buildings are responsible for 40% of the total EU final energy consumption, c.35% of the EU GHG emissions and 50% of all the globally extracted materials. Additionally, construction and demolition waste (CDW) accounts for 25-35% of all waste generated in the EU. Ireland urgently needs to adopt a circular approach to address these issues and to meet Ireland’s ambitious climate goals. This proposal has brought together a team who have extensive experience in the areas of CDW management, resource efficiency, lifecycle analysis, whole carbon performance and the circular built environment, and who are currently leading several national initiatives and projects e.g., Build Digital, Digital Academy for a Sustainable Built Environment (DASBE), Construction Technology Centre, Opps4GPP, CircularLife etc. This proposal aims to maximise these synergies to develop a Circular Built Environment Playbook for the Irish construction sector with the following elements: 1. The co-design and development of a National Circular Built Environment Roadmap to 2040 in collaboration with industry stakeholders representing the full built environment value chain. 2. The co-design, development, and piloting of an evidence-based and research-informed Circular Built Environment Toolkit in collaboration with industry across a range of selected case studies. 3. The establishment of a dedicated Circular Built Environment Resource and Training Hub for industry, policy makers and educational audiences. This project will employ novel and innovative approaches in the co-design and development of the roadmap to 2040, which will set out key milestones, targets, and stakeholder responsibilities. This will involve close collaboration with industry through a targeted deliberative and participatory engagement process. The project methodology will work across five main work packages (WP): project management, roadmap development, toolkit and case studies, resource hub, and communications. The project management WP will establish a national steering committee, a technical sub-committee and an international advisory group who will all feed into the design and development process across all other WPs. The design and development of the roadmap will employ a coherent phased approach commencing with a horizon scan and critical evaluation of international circular economy roadmaps and a systematic review of relevant industry and academic literature. This will be followed by direct engagement with project teams on related EU-funded projects to determine project impact and gather insights into key roadmap components. This will inform the design, piloting and dissemination of a national questionnaire survey and subsequent interviews with key stakeholders to determine the awareness, knowledge, attitudes, and current practice of the Irish construction sector in relation to circularity. A suite of Circular Futures scenarios will be designed to act as stimuli for discussion amongst industry stakeholders who will be participating in the focused workshops. The design, piloting and development of a Circular Built Environment Toolkit will require extensive engagement with industry throughout the project. Existing collaboration on selected case studies and international examples will be reviewed to draft an initial framework for different types of case study engagement e.g., circular overlay case studies, circular snapshot case studies, and circular lighthouse projects.

Grant Approved

�199,260.00

Research Hub

Green and Circular Economy

Research Theme

n/a

Start Date

01/03/2023

Initial Projected Completion Date

28/02/2026