Can Digital Matchmaking Boost Circular Construction?: Lessons from Reusing the Glass of Centre Pompidou

Digitalization is driving innovation towards a circular economy in various industries—but the construction industry is lagging behind. The building industry, a growth sector due to increasing urbanization, is at the same time actively depleting our resources, generating waste, and emitting greenhouse gases at a tremendous scale and speed. This...

Towards a circular building industry through digitalisation: Exploring how digital technologies can help narrow, slow, close, and regenerate the loops in social housing practice

The concept of Circular Economy (CE) has emerged as a promising alternative to the current linear economy, decoupling economic activity from the depletion of natural resources and promoting a restorative and regenerative system. The transition of the building industry to a circular one can be achieved through four core resource principles:...

Data requirements and availabilities for material passports: A digitally enabled framework for improving the circularity of existing buildings

Passports for circularity, e.g., digital product passports and material passports (MPs), have gained recognition as essential policy instruments for the Circular Economy goals of the European Union. Despite the growing number of approaches, there is a lack of knowledge about the data requirements and availabilities to create MPs for existing...

From circular strategies to actions: 65 European circular building cases and their decarbonisation potential

The application of the circular economy (CE) in the building industry is critical for achieving the carbon reduction goals defined in the Paris Agreement and is increasingly promoted through European policies. In recent years, CE strategies have been applied and tested in numerous building projects in practice. However, insights into their...

How Can Digital Technologies Support the Circular Transition of Social Housing Organizations? Empirical Evidence from Two Cases

The world is facing an alarming housing crisis. The challenge for the construction industry is to find sustainable ways to meet this growing housing demand. The concept of Circular Economy could be an alternative approach as it aims to regenerate, narrow, slow, and close resources loops. Digital technologies are seen as enablers to implementing...

A Conceptual Framework for a Digital Circular Built Environment: The Data Pipeline, Passport Generator and Passport Pool

This article proposes a conceptual model to address the structural holes in data sharing between (and beyond) actors in the circular built environment supply chain and monitoring circular economy progress. Current digital innovations such as material passports and Building Information Modelling applications aim at increasing quality and...

Digitalization for a circular economy in the building industry: Multiple-case study of Dutch social housing organizations

Digital technologies are considered enablers of circular economy implementation in the built environment. Literature mainly focuses on conceptual or review studies examining the role of digital tools (e.g., material passport and building information modelling) to close the material loops. There is a lack of understanding of how digital...

Potentiële stimulerende digitale technologieën voor circulaire installatietechniek

Nederland heeft het ambitieuze doel om een volledig circulaire economie te bereiken in 2050. Hoe gaat de gebouwde omgeving dit als meest grondstof intensieve en grote CO2 uitstoter realiseren? Wat betekent dit voor de installatietechniek? En wat is de rol van digitale technologieën in deze transitie? In dit artikel kijken we naar deze vragen...

Circular Digital Built Environment: An Emerging Framework

Digital technologies are considered to be an essential enabler of the circular economy in various industries. However, to date, very few studies have investigated which digital technologies could enable the circular economy in the built environment. This study specifically focuses on the built environment as one of the largest, most energy- and...

Towards Circular Social Housing: An Exploration of Practices, Barriers, and Enablers

The concept of Circular Economy (CE) and its application in the built environment is an emerging research field. Scholars approach CE from various perspectives covering a wide range of topics from material innovation to city-scale application. However, there is little research on CE implementation in housing stock, particularly that which is...