The built environment is accountable for over 10% of London’s consumption-based emissions, and is the city’s biggest producer of waste. More daunting still is that the London Plan shows projections that we are going to need 66,000 new homes each year to accommodate our increasing population. This will need to be complemented with new places for employment, leisure and support services. Accommodating this growth whilst tackling the climate emergency is a real challenge – but luckily we are not alone.
ReLondon is part of a consortium of 31 organisations across four cities (London, Copenhagen, Hamburg and the Helsinki region) who are working together in the Horizon 2020-funded ‘Circular Construction In Regenerative Cities’ (CIRCuIT) project. Through the project we are aiming to reduce the yearly consumption of virgin raw material by 20% in new construction and show cost savings of 15% – helping the built environment deliver the Mayor’s commitment to making London a zero-carbon city by 2050.
helping the built environment deliver the Mayor’s commitment to making London a zero-carbon city by 2050.
CIRCuIT will explore three innovative intervention areas: urban mining and reverse cycles (the re-use and recycling of materials); extending building life through transformation and refurbishment; and designing for disassembly and flexible construction (which will make the other two interventions easier in the future).
We are exploring these through nine demonstrations in London, which will develop the evidence base and business case for circular construction. Alongside these we will be developing tools and building capacity to enable circular construction to become the norm.
we will be developing tools and building capacity to enable circular construction to become the norm.
The requirement for a Circular Economy Statement in Policy SI 7 of the most recent London Plan is already a beacon of best practice across Europe; and through CIRCuIT we will further support the Greater London Authority (GLA) in the implementation of this policy.
We also hope to support London boroughs who want to embed circular construction into their Development Plans; and will connect with London businesses to help them respond effectively to this policy and the opportunities it presents.
To find out more visit the CIRCuIT project website or contact Andrea Charlson.
Want to find more resources relating to the built environment?
