Multi-scale, circular economic potential of non-residential building stock
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Sheffield
Department Name: Civil and Structural Engineering
Abstract
Reducing the demand for new materials and reducing embodied carbon will be one of the most significant challenges that the construction sector faces in the coming decades. The 20th century oversaw a 23-fold increase in accumulated resources extracted, including materials currently locked in buildings and infrastructure. This rate of consumption far exceeds the planet's capacity to regenerate, and has serious implications for global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Addressing this interlinked material demand and emissions problem requires a step-change in practice, and implementation of circular economic (CE) reduce-reuse-recycle strategies, where materials are highly valued and remain in use for as long as possible. However, detailed knowledge of material types and quantities that are locked in the building stock is lacking, making estimation of CE potential unfeasible. This project will develop a spatially multi-scale framework to assess CE potential in individual buildings, cities and countries.
Application of this new framework to non-residential construction in the UK will enable estimation of CE potential in the existing stock - at building, city and national level. The framework will utilise bottom-up material flow analysis to assess building level material intensity, embodied carbon and CE potential. This will be combined with remote sensing and satellite data to assess city level building stocks, with demand modelling applied to explore future material demand scenarios - considering different construction mixes and optimised CE potential. The embodied carbon implications of this material demand will also be forecast so it can be considered as part of UK decarbonisation pathways. This will be essential as the proportion of embodied carbon in the whole life carbon of the built environment is only increasing, and will continue to do so as the electricity grid is decarbonised and thus operational GHG emissions are minimised. This research will build the evidence base to demonstrate the role the circular economy can have in tackling these challenges in construction, and provide the knowledge required to facilitate shifts in policy and practice.
Application of this new framework to non-residential construction in the UK will enable estimation of CE potential in the existing stock - at building, city and national level. The framework will utilise bottom-up material flow analysis to assess building level material intensity, embodied carbon and CE potential. This will be combined with remote sensing and satellite data to assess city level building stocks, with demand modelling applied to explore future material demand scenarios - considering different construction mixes and optimised CE potential. The embodied carbon implications of this material demand will also be forecast so it can be considered as part of UK decarbonisation pathways. This will be essential as the proportion of embodied carbon in the whole life carbon of the built environment is only increasing, and will continue to do so as the electricity grid is decarbonised and thus operational GHG emissions are minimised. This research will build the evidence base to demonstrate the role the circular economy can have in tackling these challenges in construction, and provide the knowledge required to facilitate shifts in policy and practice.
Planned Impact
Through the development of a multi-scale framework, material demand, CE potential and embodied carbon of the UK building stock will be assessed, including the development of building level benchmarks, city level CE potential and UK material demand, with scenario modelling to explore the impact of increasing CE potential on material demand and embodied carbon. The project thus has the potential to impact upon a range of stakeholders, including the construction sector, UK Plc, and global society.
The construction sector: The benchmark metrics developed during the project could be applied by clients to their building stock to understand its CE potential, and associated embodied carbon. This will assist in decision making regarding retrofit, deconstruction and material salvage. CE potential of the stock enables the potential future value of materials held in the buildings to be estimated; this has the potential to shift the mindset from a disposable, consumption approach, to one where construction materials are valued, and kept at highest value use. The benchmark metrics could also be used by building designers and contractors to both understand how 'good' their designs are compared to the average stock, as well as to develop methods to help achieve buildings with higher CE potential, and lower embodied carbon. Members of the advisory group, which will include: Fosters+Partners, AECOM, Expedition, BAM, Cundall and Hawkins Brown, will be amongst the first to apply these metrics and benchmarks, which could also give them an initial competitive advantage when bidding for work with CE potential or carbon reduction requirements. There is also potential for this to be area of specialisation for UK consultants, leading to skills export opportunities.
UK Plc: This research will identify CE opportunities within the UK non-residential stock. This has the potential to stimulate new business models, for example to develop material reuse markets, at local, as well as, national levels. This could reduce UK unemployment and result in up-skilling of workers, for example from demolition to deconstruction techniques. Reducing the UK's demand for new materials in construction would also improve resource security, reducing reliance on imports. Exploration of the relationship between material demand for non-residential building and UK decarbonisation pathways could also lead to effective contributions towards achievement of legally binding decarbonisation targets. The identification of levers for change could further support either industry incentives, new business models, or policy mechanisms - assisting the UK in transitioning to a circular, decarbonised economy.
Society: Global society will be a beneficiary from the proposed research as one potential outcome of application of the findings is global GHG emissions reduction, which is crucial to mitigate the impacts of climate change. Realising CE opportunities could also stimulate new job markets. More broadly, the lessons learnt will be applicable to countries around the world, and the framework could be utilised to model their building stocks. Material intensity estimates for different building types, could also be utilised in world wide energy demand and decarbonisation modelling e.g. by the International Energy Agency, contributing to this important work
The construction sector: The benchmark metrics developed during the project could be applied by clients to their building stock to understand its CE potential, and associated embodied carbon. This will assist in decision making regarding retrofit, deconstruction and material salvage. CE potential of the stock enables the potential future value of materials held in the buildings to be estimated; this has the potential to shift the mindset from a disposable, consumption approach, to one where construction materials are valued, and kept at highest value use. The benchmark metrics could also be used by building designers and contractors to both understand how 'good' their designs are compared to the average stock, as well as to develop methods to help achieve buildings with higher CE potential, and lower embodied carbon. Members of the advisory group, which will include: Fosters+Partners, AECOM, Expedition, BAM, Cundall and Hawkins Brown, will be amongst the first to apply these metrics and benchmarks, which could also give them an initial competitive advantage when bidding for work with CE potential or carbon reduction requirements. There is also potential for this to be area of specialisation for UK consultants, leading to skills export opportunities.
UK Plc: This research will identify CE opportunities within the UK non-residential stock. This has the potential to stimulate new business models, for example to develop material reuse markets, at local, as well as, national levels. This could reduce UK unemployment and result in up-skilling of workers, for example from demolition to deconstruction techniques. Reducing the UK's demand for new materials in construction would also improve resource security, reducing reliance on imports. Exploration of the relationship between material demand for non-residential building and UK decarbonisation pathways could also lead to effective contributions towards achievement of legally binding decarbonisation targets. The identification of levers for change could further support either industry incentives, new business models, or policy mechanisms - assisting the UK in transitioning to a circular, decarbonised economy.
Society: Global society will be a beneficiary from the proposed research as one potential outcome of application of the findings is global GHG emissions reduction, which is crucial to mitigate the impacts of climate change. Realising CE opportunities could also stimulate new job markets. More broadly, the lessons learnt will be applicable to countries around the world, and the framework could be utilised to model their building stocks. Material intensity estimates for different building types, could also be utilised in world wide energy demand and decarbonisation modelling e.g. by the International Energy Agency, contributing to this important work
Organisations
- University of Sheffield (Lead Research Organisation)
- Ramboll (United Kingdom) (Collaboration)
- University of Southern Denmark (Collaboration)
- Royal BAM Group nv (Collaboration)
- University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (Collaboration)
- ReLondon (Project Partner)
- Expedition (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- Hawkins\Brown Architects LLP (Project Partner)
- University of Cambridge (Project Partner)
- Cundall Global (Project Partner)
- BAM Nuttall (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- Foster and Partners (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- University of Leeds (Project Partner)
Publications
Arbabi H
(2021)
A scalable data collection, characterization, and accounting framework for urban material stocks
in Journal of Industrial Ecology
Dai M
(2024)
Component-Level Residential Building Material Stock Characterization Using Computer Vision Techniques
in Environmental Science & Technology
Densley Tingley D
(2022)
Embed circular economy thinking into building retrofit
in Communications Engineering
Gillott C
(2023)
Developing Regenerate: A circular economy engagement tool for the assessment of new and existing buildings
in Journal of Industrial Ecology
Haberl H
(2021)
High-Resolution Maps of Material Stocks in Buildings and Infrastructures in Austria and Germany.
in Environmental science & technology
Lanau M
(2021)
Extending urban stocks and flows analysis to urban greenhouse gas emission accounting: A case of Odense, Denmark
in Journal of Industrial Ecology
Li Q
(2022)
Spatiotemporally Explicit Mapping of Built Environment Stocks Reveals Two Centuries of Urban Development in a Fairytale City, Odense, Denmark.
in Environmental science & technology
Wiedenhofer D
(2024)
Mapping and modelling global mobility infrastructure stocks, material flows and their embodied greenhouse gas emissions
in Journal of Cleaner Production
Description | This project focuses on understand the circular economic potential of the buildings in the UK. The circular economy aims to keep materials at their highest value possible. To assist design teams with understanding circularity on their own projects we have developed a design tool, regenerate, to assess 'how circular is your building?'. We are using a simplified version of regenerate to assess a series of UK case study buildings in order to develop an at scale assessment of the circularity of the UK's building stock. This piece of work is still underway. There have been a series of engagement events conducted during the course of the project to raise awareness and understanding of the circular economy in the built environment, these have included talks, podcasts and short articles, in addition to traditional journal publications. |
Exploitation Route | The regenerate tool could be used by design teams to understand, and embed circularity within their building designs, this applies to the reuse of existing buildings, and to the design of new buildings. There is also a forthcoming guide for the Institution of Structural Engineers 'Circular Economy and reuse: guidance for designers' which was been co-authored by members of the project team which can be used be designers to further influence the circularity of their designs. |
Sectors | Construction Government Democracy and Justice |
URL | https://regenerate.urbanflows.ac.uk/ |
Description | We have produced a circular economy engagement tool, Regenerate, that explores how circular a building design is. It is publicly available at: https://urbanflows.ac.uk/regenerate/. In the first year it was been available it was been downloaded over 500 times by architects, structural engineers, contractors, sustainability consultants and clients. It has been adopted by the Estates team at the University of Sheffield for use in all projects over £2M. Thus the project is showing early signs of having influenced circular economy uptake in the construction sector. Regenerate is now also a webtool, with over 200 registered construction sector users. In addition we are influencing policy and practice with the following: we have fed into a POSTbrief on 'Reducing the whole life carbon impact of buildings', and submitted written evidence to the Environmental Audit Committee on their inquiry into 'Sustainability in the built environment', the written submission led to an invitation to give oral evidence to the same committee, which Danielle Densley Tingley gave in July 2021. |
Sector | Construction,Environment |
Impact Types | Societal Economic Policy & public services |
Description | Contribution to 'Routemap for zero avoidable waste in Construction' |
Geographic Reach | National |
Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
URL | https://www.constructionleadershipcouncil.co.uk/press-releases/zero-avoidable-waste-routemap-launch/ |
Description | Oral Evidence to Environmental Audit Committee's inquiry into Sustainability of the built environment. |
Geographic Reach | National |
Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
URL | https://committees.parliament.uk/oralevidence/2578/html/ |
Description | Regenerate - use by University of Sheffield Estates |
Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
Impact | Regenerate is being used on University construction projects, and is influencing more circular economic practice in design. |
URL | https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/civil/news/regenerate-tool-encourages-construction-designers-engage-circ... |
Description | Written evidence to Environmental Audit Committee's Inquiry into the 'Sustainability of the built environment'. |
Geographic Reach | National |
Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
URL | https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/36042/html/ |
Description | EPSRC Impact Accelerator - How circular is your building? |
Amount | £16,447 (GBP) |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 01/2020 |
End | 04/2020 |
Description | ICASE PhD: the balance between adaptability and optimisation in building design. |
Amount | £29,628 (GBP) |
Organisation | Tata Steel Europe |
Sector | Private |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 02/2022 |
End | 01/2026 |
Description | ICASE PhD: the balance between adaptability and optimisation in building design. |
Amount | £88,885 (GBP) |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 02/2022 |
End | 01/2026 |
Description | BAM Collaboration |
Organisation | Royal BAM Group nv |
Department | BAM Construct UK |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Dissemination of research findings to date. |
Collaborator Contribution | Attendance at advisory board meetings to input expert views to the research. |
Impact | BAM provided expert inputs and review to the Regenerate tool, and are in process of sharing building data which we can use in research. |
Start Year | 2016 |
Description | Ramboll Collaboration |
Organisation | Ramboll UK |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Dissemination of research findings to date. |
Collaborator Contribution | Attendance with expert inputs at project Advisory Board meeting, and provided expert inputs to Regenerate tool. |
Impact | Inputs to the Regenerate tool, and data sharing on-going for this research project. |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | Scalable Data Collection & Urban Stocks |
Organisation | University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences |
Country | Austria |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Dr Maud Lanau participated in a workshop, and subsequent paper to develop a new scalable data collection, characterization and accounting framework for Urban Material Stocks - this was first applied to Austria & Germany. Dr Maud Lanau & Dr Danielle Densley Tingley are now working with the same team from Vienna to apply this framework to the UK. |
Collaborator Contribution | The team from the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences have developed the above outlined framework. |
Impact | The following paper has resulted from the collaboration so far (listed in the publications output section): Haberl, H., Wiedenhofer, D., Schug, F., Frantz, D., Virág, D., Plutzar, C., Gruhler, K., Lederer, J., Schiller, G., Fishman, T., Lanau, M., Gattringer, A., Kemper, T., Liu, G., Tanikawa, H., van der Linden, S., Hostert, P. 2021. Using Earth observation data to map material stocks in buildings and infrastructures in Germany and Austria. |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | Urban Stocks & Embodied Carbon |
Organisation | University of Southern Denmark |
Country | Denmark |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Dr Maud Lanau was the lead author on a piece of work looking at extending urban stocks and flows analysis to urban greenhouse gas emission accounting. |
Collaborator Contribution | Prof Gang Liu was a contributing author to the piece of work, providing expert advice and guidance. |
Impact | This resulted in the following publication (also listed in the publications section): Lanau, M., Liu, G., Herbert, L. 2021. Extending urban stocks and flows analysis to urban greenhouse gas emission accounting: A case of Odense, Denmark. Journal of Industrial Ecology. |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | ACAN Regenerate Presentation |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Approximately 20 attendees at an invited professional development session hosted by the Architects Climate Action Network, to discuss the regenerate tool, and how to embed, then measure circularity in building design. Good questions and discussion had after the presentation. There was increased interest in using the regenerate tool, and implementing circular design as a result of the session. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | Arup Regenerate Presentation |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Approximately 20 attendees at an invited professional development session at Arup, to discuss the regenerate tool, and how to embed, then measure circularity in building design. Good questions and discussion had after the presentation. There was increased interest in using the regenerate tool as a result of the session. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | Building Data Blog |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Blog to outline circular economy project, and call for data from building designers. It has sparked interest in the project, and assisted in designers providing us with building data for the research project. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://urbanflows.ac.uk/building-designers-your-building-data-is-needed/ |
Description | Circular Economy Metrics Workshop |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Participated in a workshop to develop a single metric to measure the circular economy (CE) in buildings, the workshop was held with mostly industry practitioners and some other academics, this was held on 12th Jan 2023. Invited to participate in smaller follow-up workshop to consolidate recommendation on CE metric for use by construction sector clients. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Circular Economy Policy Workshop |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Expert roundtable workshop held to analyse the success to date of existing circular economy policy in the built environment and brainstorm next steps for policy to stimulate a circular built environment in the UK. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Debate - decarbonisation in the Sheffield City Region |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Short online presentation, followed by a debate and discussion about how decarbonisation can be tackled in the Sheffield City Region. The session was hosted by the Joint Professional Engineering Institutions in South Yorkshire. Approximately 100 people attended the session online, which sparked lots of questions and discussion afterwards. In addition, after the session a Housing Officer at Sheffield City Region reached out to ask for more information about the research. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://nearyou.imeche.org/eventdetail?id=18671 |
Description | Fairhursts Regenerate CPD Session |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Approximately 10 attendees at an invited professional development session at Fairhursts, to discuss the regenerate tool, and how to embed, then measure circularity in building design. Good questions and discussion had after the presentation. There was increased interest in using the regenerate tool and circular design as a result of the session. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020,2021 |
Description | GMIT Guest Lecture |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Invited guest lecture at GMIT for cohort of students studying for a postgraduate diploma in Circular Economy Leadership. The students are also professional practitioners in the construction sector. It was a small session of less than 10 students, but the presentation simulated discussion afterwards on how the circular strategies I was presenting could be put into practice. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Grantham Centre Presentation |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Presentation as part of the University of Sheffield's Grantham Centre's Symposium on the role of the circular economy in the built environment, it was an online event with 50-100 people online, attendees were a mix of academics, and post-graduate students - PhD and MSc. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | Green Alliance Resource Efficiency Panel |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Panel and Q&A Session for a Green Alliance Event 'What's stopping construction from becoming more resource efficient'. The were approximately 100 people in attendance, with lots of questions and discussion afterwards. There have been follow ups to explore potential collaborations following the event. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://green-alliance.org.uk/event/whats-stopping-construction-from-becoming-more-resource-efficien... |
Description | IOM3 Podcast - Sustainability in the built environment |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | IMO3/Materials World Podcast on 'Sustainability in the built environment'. This was a discussion between the podcast host, Danielle Densley Tingley (project PI) and three industry professionals. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://www.iom3.org/resource/iom3-investigates-sustainability-in-the-built-environment.html |
Description | IStructE Regenerate Article |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Short article for the Institution of Structural Engineers publication, The Structural Engineer, on Regenerate, a design tool to measure 'how circular is your building?'. This journal has an international readership, and the publication has sparked requests for workshops on using regenerate from building designers. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://www.istructe.org/journal/volumes/volume-101-(2023)/issue-3/how-circular-is-your-building/? |
Description | Invited Speaker for IStructE Conference |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Invited talk on 'Designing for Demountability' as part of the IStructE's Conference on Modern Uses of Steel, on 24th November 2022. This was an online conference to a large international audience. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | Invited Talk - University of Leeds |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Invited talk at the Neville Centre of Excellence Symposium at the University of Leeds. 40-50 attendees, presentation sparked questions and discussion afterwards. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Invited speaker Circular EcoBIM Podcast |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Invited speaker for a podcast on 'Design for Circular Construction' hosted as part of an EU funded project. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UojniG-b87c |
Description | Irish Green Building Council Regenerate Presentation |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Approximately 30-40 attendees attended a presentation about regenerate - a webtool to encourage circular design practices in the construction sector. The presentation sparked debate and questions, and led to some attendees to register to use the regenerate tool. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Materials World Article |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | I wrote an article for Materials World on the importance of retaining, retrofitting and repurposing existing buildings, which also outlined part of our 'how circular is your building' tool, regenerate. The article appeared in the February 2021 online and print version of Materials World. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://www.iom3.org/resource/retention-retrofit-and-repurpose.html |
Description | N8 Net Zero North Webinar Presentation & Panel Discussion |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Around 40 people attended a N8 organised webinar, where the role of retrofit in delivering net zero was debated following presentations. The presentations sparked questions and discussion from the audience, and resulted in the project PI being invited to join an Oversight Committee for a Climate Jury that was put together my the Northern Housing Consortium to debate retrofit measures in social housing. The session was also recorded and made available on N8's website. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://www.n8research.org.uk/webinar-built-infrastructure-net-zero/ |
Description | Presentation for Cambridge Sustainable Leadership MSc |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Invited talk and discussion session on circular economy in the built environment as part of the University of Cambridge's Sustainable Leadership MSc, the session was online, with approximately 30-40 people present. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | RECBE Webinar |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Presentation giving an overview of the research project to around 50 industrial practitioners, followed by questions and discussion. It sparked more interested in our research, with some of the company's saying they would be interested in sharing building data with us. TATA Steel also approached me after the presentation to discuss ICASE awards, and we subsequently put together an ICASE proposal, we are currently recruiting for the PhD candidate who we will co-supervise. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | Regenerate - how circular is your building launch |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | A presentation on our 'how circular is your building' tool, regenerate, as part of a Circular Economy webinar hosted by AECOM. 100 plus people were online for the event, and the presentation sparked downloads of regenerate after the event. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | Regenerate Press Release |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Press Release for the launch of Regenerate, a 'how circular is your building tool'. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/civil/news/regenerate-tool-encourages-construction-designers-engage-circ... |
Description | Regenerate Webtool Launch |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Webinar to launch the regenerate webtool - a circular economy engagement tool to encourage circular design practices in the construction sector. Approximately 80 attendees, presentation of the tool received good questions and feedback, over 200 people have registered to use regenerate following the session. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://regenerate.urbanflows.ac.uk/ |
Description | Retrofit Press Release |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | Press Release calling for planning laws to encourage the refurbishment of buildings rather than demolition. The press release also touched on our 'how circular is your building' tool regenerate. The press release was picked up in the Architects Journal, and led to the request for the Material's World Article. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/news/nr/planning-laws-buildings-old-new-regulations-information-updates-... |
Description | School Dissemination Article |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | Worked with Futurum to produce an Article on 'Can a circular economy make the construction industry more sustainable?', with an accompanying activity sheet for schools. The article and activity sheet are sent our to around 80% of UK secondary schools through the futurum newletter, and an individual subscriber base of 16.5K, around 34% are UK based readers. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://futurumcareers.com/can-a-circular-economy-make-the-construction-industry-sustainable |