10128739Circular design & build service pilot at JabulaniClosedCollaborative R&DInnovate UKStudio Skein are architects working to develop the skills and knowledge to offer a circular design and build service using materials that would otherwise be thrown away. With the support of our client, Jabulani Plymouth CIC, we have an opportunity to deliver a wholly circular pilot project on Union Street in Plymouth, through Phase 1 of their multi-cultural food hub that will support BAME women to develop food enterprises. The pilot sits within a geographic cluster of social innovation and community-led regeneration anchored by Nudge Community Builders, complementing and extending the urban experimentation fostered by Nudge into the field of circular design and construction. The pilot is important because systemic change in the construction sector is urgently needed to reach net zero carbon targets. The construction sector uses more raw material than any other in the UK, and produces the most waste, with the construction and demolition of buildings accounting for around one-third of global material consumption and waste. Moving from a linear (take-make-waste) construction system to a circular (retain-refit-refurbish-reuse-recycle) system requires significant shifts throughout the construction supply chain to embed new practices: of design; procurement; materials sourcing, assessing, cataloguing and storage; project management; construction skills; measurement and monitoring; as well as shifts in attitudes to building lifespans, maintenance programmes, and aesthetics. We believe that this systems shift demands a return to vernacular ways of building that make the most of local materials and the inventive skills of master craftspeople, but reimagined for 21st century resources to include existing materials, waste, and digital database and design technologies. The circular construction system that Studio Skein would like to see does not exist yet, and it can only be brought into being through action that explores and expands the limits of the possible. Our pilot with Jabulani will test and evaluate a suite of new circular design and build processes and practices to discover what's possible and to develop skills and know how that can be replicated across future phases and projects.