Circular and adaptable strategies in building reuse are key to achieving a resource-efficient and future-proof built environment. Despite significant advances in circular building research, this field is affected by a significant theory–practice gap. To bridge this gap, we applied an action design research methodology, implementing a circular building design framework over a five-month period in the context of a Dutch monumental office building reuse. The objective of these interventions was to observe practitioners engaging with the framework and identify the barriers they encountered when considering and applying circular building strategies. We observed that the framework primarily functioned as a descriptive tool. Enhancing its usability and effectiveness required several refinements, including simplifying its self-description, clarifying its strategies through practical solutions and connections to related models, providing robust assessment tools, and improving its accessibility. Through iterative action research conducted during the observation and intervention period, we addressed these issues and advanced the framework. Our design-oriented approach led to the development of key design artifacts: a prescriptive guiding, assessment, and reporting tool; a stepwise approach to streamline application; and a hands-on worksheet for practitioners. These artifacts were integrated into a user-friendly platform, transforming the framework into a practical tool for real-world implementation. For theory, this study incorporates a circular perspective into a usable framework and demonstrates how an action design research approach can co-develop and improve frameworks and their usability and relevance. For practice, the produced artifacts represent boundary objects tailored to practitioners’ needs; thereby paving the way for future circular adaptive reuse. Clinical trial number: not applicable.

Construction activities in the built environment use a vast amount of resources, making the circular economy an attractive paradigm against the linear take-waste-dispose economy to reduce this resource consumption. Within the built environment, this transition encompasses the use of circular strategies across the product life cycle for materials. This entails efforts from multiple stakeholders across the product value chain. In this study we therefore explore how stakeholders engagement can aid the process to arrive at a common understanding of a public sector circular business model (PSCBM) in the case of a circular concrete paver. We conducted a participatory design workshop aimed to design this PSCBM with all relevant stakeholders across the product life cycle were (re)presented. We conclude that the presence of stakeholder perspectives was observed to be necessary in drafting up a PSCBM for a concrete paver, but caution is needed. Outcome-wise stakeholder engagement was necessary to sharpen the dream, indicating stakeholder value propositions, activities required, value trade-offs and to arrive at a relevant set of indicators. Process-wise, stakeholder engagement in this setting was relevant because stakeholders were enabled to share perspectives and challenge each other perspectives accordingly. This leads to the advantage that the practical feasibility of proposed ideas could immediately be challenged. However, outcomes and assumptions should always be cross-validated and updated according to new insights (e.g., relevant outcomes of tests or regulations, latest insights on reuse and recycling innovations). The outcomes are time- and context-bound and very much reliant on the perspectives shared. The findings of this study contribute to our understanding of how stakeholder engagement in a workshop setting, can potentially be useful to strategize about circular products. We conclude that this for example, could help to improve the functional and esthetical requirements for product procurement.

Background and aim. Temporary use of vacant spaces—the short-term activation of properties awaiting transformation—has gained recognition for its potential to foster urban revitalization. While such uses provide a platform for experimentation, accessibility, and social inclusion through participatory and cultural activities, they often remain precarious and underutilized as strategic tools for circular economy. This study aims to explore how specific hybrid approaches to temporary real estate management can transform temporary use into a social circular economy strategy, balancing social values with market logics.

Methods and Data. This research employs a qualitative analysis, first defining a framework from literature and then analysing specific temporary use projects through a retrospective case analysis of three cases by Plateau Urbain (France), communa (Belgium), and Stad in de Maak (Netherlands). Data collection included interviews, project documentation, and field observations, allowing an in-depth exploration of the enabling conditions for successful hybrid approaches in creating social value.

Findings. This study makes three key contributions. First, it conceptualizes collaborative temporary use as a social circular strategy, clearly defining the evolution of the concept and its potential in temporary real estate adaptive reuse. Second, by drawing on the literature on organizational hybridity and case study analysis, it identifies key enabling conditions, such as tweaking the balance between social value and market logic over time to recalibrate impact—that underpin temporary use projects as social circular economy strategies. Third, it offers a framework to determine whether a temporary real estate reuse initiative can function as a social circular economy strategy.

Theoretical / Practical / Societal implications. This study offers theoretical insights into hybrid organizing for urban development and practical recommendations for integrating temporary reuse of real estate into social circular economy frameworks. Societally, it underscores the potential for collaborative temporary use to foster circular urban transformation by balancing economic goals with community-driven social value creation.

Background and aim. Adaptive reuse enhances circularity by repurposing buildings, reducing carbon emissions, and preserving heritage. However, decision-making is complex due to stakeholder conflicts, regulations, and uncertainties. This study introduces an integrated framework combining Cross-Impact Balance (CIB) analysis, the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), and Fuzzy-TOPSIS to support structured, participatory decision-making.

Methods and Data. A mixed-method approach integrates CIB for scenario development, AHP for stakeholder-driven prioritization, and Fuzzy-TOPSIS for ranking reuse scenarios. A hypothetical case study demonstrates the framework’s applicability.

Findings. The integration of CIB, AHP, and Fuzzy-TOPSIS provides a structured decision-making approach that enhances scenario coherence, aligns decisions with stakeholder priorities, and improves scenario ranking robustness. The framework enables systematic exploration of adaptive reuse scenarios, ensuring alignment with stakeholder objectives.

Theoretical / Practical / Societal implications. Theoretically, this study advances scenario-based decision-making by integrating scenario development and decision-making approaches, addressing gaps in adaptive reuse decision frameworks. Practically, it provides policymakers, urban planners, and developers with a structured tool to navigate complex decision-making in adaptive reuse projects. Societally, it supports sustainable and inclusive urban development by fostering consistent, long-term strategies that balance environmental, economic, and social considerations.

The concept of value has been central to economic thought for centuries; the idea of what makes something valuable shapes how we exchange, produce, invest, and measure well-being. Neoclassical traditions have dominated the contemporary economic framework, privileging financial value as the primary metric of worth. This emphasis on quantifiability, reinforced by positivist methodologies, has marginalised broader considerations of multiple values and incommensurability. Real estate valuation perfectly embodies and exemplifies these tensions. This disjuncture between theory and practice reflects a broader issue within economics: the persistence of an overly narrow understanding of value. In response to these challenges–ranging from sustainability commitments to shifting societal priorities–we turn to a historical narrative of value theories to examine how foundational assumptions about value shape economic thought, resource allocation, and societal priorities. Recent studies point to a growing dissatisfaction with existing valuation models along with a shifting value paradigm: one that increasingly recognises multiple forms of values, the limits of commensurability, and the influence of social and ecological considerations on the practice of appraisal.

Purpose: This study assesses the success of a real project in practice, using identified success factors from recent systematic literature. It investigates how theoretical insights translate into real-world outcomes by answering the question: “How do success factors identified in existing literature contribute to the success of a real-world adaptive reuse project?”. Design/methodology/approach: This research utilizes a case study methodology to explore the adaptive reuse phenomenon through the lens of the Fenix I in the Netherlands. Three comprehensive semi-structured interviews with key decision-makers provide insights into experiences, challenges, and ultimately the evaluation of success factors in practice. Data analysis involves deductive coding, systematically organizing success factors into ten categories derived from the literature, to implement the analysis and align with the research objectives. Findings: The results demonstrate the application of a majority of success factors identified in literature within the case study. This study reveals differences in the levels of significance among these factors, their categorization and their existence, particularly between listed and non-listed heritage buildings. Moreover, it shows the remarkable impact of public-private collaboration from the early stages of decision-making through project implementation. The study confirms that a successful real-world project addresses a significant proportion of the success factors identified in the literature. Originality/value: This research facilitates the decision-making process for stakeholders and practitioners in adaptive reuse projects, aiming to foster the development of more successful initiatives in this field.

Adaptive reuse of buildings offers a sustainable strategy for reducing global CO2 emissions by repurposing existing structures, conserving resources, reducing the need to extract new materials, and minimizing waste. However, the decision-making process in adaptive reuse projects is often complex, involving conflicting criteria and diverse stakeholders. Current approaches tend to polarize alternatives, focusing either on broad functional use or specific design options, which can limit decision effectiveness and quality. This study addresses these challenges by developing a participatory mixed-methods approach that integrates Cross-Impact Balance (CIB) analysis with creative scenario-building techniques, including generative AI and participatory workshops. This approach balances the extremes of current decision-making processes, offering a more comprehensive overview of desirable futures for decision-makers. The methodology was applied to create 15 “big picture” circular adaptive reuse scenarios, each incorporating circular building adaptability (CBA) strategies, and enriched with AI generated narratives and visualizations. These scenarios provide stakeholders with a nuanced understanding of potential future pathways, enhancing decision-making processes. This mixed-method approach demonstrates the potential of participatory CIB scenario development in advancing circularity, offering a valuable tool for navigating the complexities of adaptive reuse decision-making.

It is recommended to integrate specific management competencies in academic education to support the transition towards environmentally sustainable practices, particularly in the construction and real estate sector. This paper explores how architectural management education can integrate environmental sustainability within its current university programmes. In recent years TU Delft explored and experimented with various education initiatives to bring forward environmental sustainability knowledge and to connect with policy, societal and industry practices. This paper describes what we learned from both bottom-up and top-down initiatives implementing environmental sustainability in construction and real estate management education. Bottom-up educational initiatives show that knowledge about transition policies, stakeholder experiences, business models and management practices from a European perspective can help students across the globe to apply knowledge into their local context, reflecting on the overarching management principals across stakeholders, institutions, academic disciplines and cultures. Top-down initiatives show that the university has a vision on integrating sustainability in its curriculum, but that integrating environmental sustainability in construction and real estate management education is still challenging. Adapting the academic curriculum to integrate building and portfolio responses to environmental challenges might be a way forward and the experiences from numerous elective courses and educational initiatives can be a basis to identify the development of a future standard curriculum.

Transformatie van een gebouw vindt plaats als een of meerdere actoren vinden dat het gebouw voldoende waarde en kwaliteit heeft om in de toekomst nieuw gebruik te huisvesten. De drijfveren voor transformatie zijn zowel maatschappelijk als financieel en functioneel van aard. Een voorbeeld van maatschappelijke drijfveren is de vraag naar binnenstedelijk wonen en het overheidsbeleid dat deze interesse versterkt, zoals de ladder voor duurzame verstedelijking (Ministerie van Infrastructuur en Waterstaat 2017). Na periodes van leegstand en verwaarlozing kan transformatie duurzame stedelijke intensivering bevorderen (Bryson 1997). In Nederland en internationaal is hergebruik van overtollige kantoorgebouwen een belangrijke drijfveer, bijvoorbeeld door de vraag naar woningen en een verouderde kantorenvoorraad in oudere kantorenwijken (Clifford et al. 2019; Remøy 2010). Tijdelijke transformatie wordt ook ingezet om tijdelijke woningen te creëren, bijvoorbeeld voor studenten en vluchtelingen. Daarnaast wordt tijdelijke transformatie vaak ingezet als strategie om gebiedstransformaties op gang te brengen (Wilkinson et al. 2021; Mazzarella et al. 2022). Transformatie levert vaak indirecte waarde op in de vorm van waardestijging van vastgoed rondom een getransformeerd gebouw. Dit roept de vraag op: wie profiteert en wie betaalt? In dit hoofdstuk worden de waardeaspecten van transformatie uiteengezet, met een focus op transformatie van erfgoed.

The built environment plays a crucial role in the ongoing challenge of climate change, primarily through resource consumption, energy use, and contributions to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. As urbanization accelerates, the environmental footprint of construction and building operations has grown significantly. Currently, buildings account for 40% of the world’s waste, 40% of material resource use, and 33% of human-induced emissions.

Over the past two decades, research promoting a sustainable built environment has pioneered new horizons to accelerate the transition to a circular economy. Yet, these efforts are suffering from a significant theory-practice divide. This article offers three interconnected research themes to bridge this gap: 1. Distinguishing circularity practices across spatial and time scales; 2. Redesigning the value of design and its process; and 3. Learning from sister transitions for acceleration.

Om het woningtekort op te lossen moeten er jaarlijks zo’n 90.000 nieuwbouwwoningen aan het woningbestand worden toegevoegd. Transformatie van leegstaande gebouwen en herbestemming naar woningen draagt bij aan de oplossing hiervoor. De maatschappij stelt hogere eisen aan duurzaamheid dan voorheen, en stelt randvoorwaarden zoals lager energieverbruik, beter omgaan met bouwmaterialen en minder afval genereren. Transformatie voldoet aan deze duurzaamheidseisen. In de transitie naar een circulaire economie is er meer aandacht voor hergebruik van bouwcomponenten en materialen. Dit is iets wat steeds vaker gebeurt, maar wat nog niet algemeen is. Voor de financiële crisis van 2008 kwam transformatie minder vaak voor. Leegstaande gebouwen werden vaak gesloopt in plaats van getransformeerd. Tegenwoordig zijn volledige nieuwbouwprojecten eerder uitzondering dan regel, en de verschuiving naar herbestemming weerspiegelt dan ook de veranderde maatschappelijke eisen.

Purpose
This study examines the relationship between environmental building certification Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM-NL) and office rents in the Dutch office market.

Design/methodology/approach
A hedonic price model was used to assess the impact of BREEAM certification on office rents. The study is based on 4,355 rent transactions in the period 2015 to mid-2022, in which 331 transactions took place in certified office buildings and 4,024 transactions in non-certified office buildings.

Findings
The results provide empirical evidence on quantitative economic benefits of BREEAM-certified offices in the Netherlands. After controlling for all important office rent determinants, the results show a rental premium for certified office buildings of 10.3% on average. The green premiums highly differ across submarkets and vary between 5.1 and 12.6% in the five largest Dutch cities. Additionally, the results show significant positive correlation between BREEAM-NL label score and rents, whereby better performing buildings generally command higher rents.

Originality/value
The study contributes to the current literature on green building economics by providing, as one of the first, empirical evidence on the existence of financial benefits for BREEAM-certified office buildings in the Dutch office market.

Constructing price indices for commercial real estate (CPPIs) is challenging due to heterogeneous and limited observations. Common price index methods often result in volatile index series. Attempts to reduce volatility often lead to frequent revisions of the entire index series and a loss of methodological index properties. When it comes to CPPIs in official statistics, both volatility and frequent revisions are undesirable. Revisions could compromise the confidence of users if indicators are allowed to change indefinitely, while instable indices insufficiently reflect structural underlying developments. In this study, a combination of hedonic imputation, multilateral calculations, time series analysis, and window splicing is introduced. The result is a method that produces stable and limited-revisable indices with the ability to detect turning points in an early stage. Commercial real estate transactions in the Netherlands are used to empirically test the method. The resulting CPPIs appear suitable for monitoring financial stability and, therefore, seem appropriate for the use in official statistics.

In last decades, there is a trend to renew buildings and make them more sustainable. Studies have shown that energy measures (as an aspect of sustainability) often increase the value of real estate. The effect of other sustainability measures on real estate values, however, is unknown. This study examines the relationship between multiple sustainability aspects and the transaction prices of different types of real estate. For this study, we used official data on commercial real estate transactions from the Land Registry Office in the Netherlands and sustainability assessment scores from a Dutch sustainability consultant. In total, 10,652 real estate transaction prices between 2012 and 2023 and corresponding sustainability scores were used to perform regressions and hedonic imputation analyses. The results show that, opposed to energy, other aspects of sustainability often correlate negatively with transaction prices in the lower segment of sustainable real estate. These aspects correlate positively in the upper segment of sustainable real estate.

Purpose
Circular building adaptability (CBA) in adaptive reuse – building transformation – projects can facilitate a resource-efficient and futureproof redevelopment of the built environment. However, there has been a lack of practical tools that guide practitioners on how to foster CBA in adaptive reuse. Therefore, this study aims to collaboratively develop a guiding framework for CBA in adaptive reuse (CBA-AR) projects in general. The CBA-AR framework is a descriptive and content-oriented synthesis mapping a series of strategies to the CBA determinants alongside their enablers and inhibitors.

Design/methodology/approach
A participatory research-oriented approach was followed. First, an archival research was conducted to develop the CBA-AR framework based on literature review and case studies. Second, two co-creation workshops, triangulated with structured interviews, were conducted to validate and expand the framework.

Findings
The first version of the CBA-AR framework comprises 30 CBA strategies. It also brings seven enablers and six inhibitors together with the 30 CBA strategies. The outcomes of the participatory approach contributed to refining and expanding the framework. The final of the CBA-AR framework version comprises CBA 33 strategies. This version brings 10 enablers and 7 inhibitors together with the 33 strategies.

Practical implications
This framework can be used as a guiding and reporting instrument by designers and property developers while transforming vacant or obsolete properties in the Netherlands. Policy makers can refer to this framework and amend adaptive reuse legislation.

Originality/value
The CBA-AR framework can introduce a transformative change in theory and practice, as it is based on theoretical, empirical and participatory research.

Sinds 2005 heeft de Rijksoverheid de transformatie van bestaande gebouwen op de agenda staan. In die tijd werd namelijk duidelijk dat de kantorenleegstand was opgelopen tot problematische proporties, en liep tegelijkertijd de woningbouwproductie achter op de beleidsdoelstelling. De productie van woningen door transformatie werd voor het eerst in diverse beleidsnotities onderschreven. Enerzijds om de woningproductie te verhogen, anderzijds om verloedering en leegstand in steden tegen te gaan. Een duurzame transformatie van gebouwen is bovendien een strategie die bijvoorbeeld sociaal-demografische veranderingen opvangt, de economische basis van steden ondersteunt en de stedelijke kwaliteit verbetert. In 2022 werd door minister Hugo de Jonge van Binnenlandse Zaken en Koninkrijksrelaties het doel geformuleerd om jaarlijks 15.000 woningen te realiseren door transformatie (zie ‘1. De markt voor transformatie naar woningen’). Om de doelstellingen te behalen, is ook een hervorming van vastgoedmarkten nodig, waarbij instellingen en organisaties de voorkeur geven aan transformatie boven sloop en nieuwbouw. Dit vereist echter het gebruik van publieke beleidsinstrumenten die aansluiten bij de veranderende eisen van de vastgoedmarkt en de behoeften van marktactoren. Dit hoofdstuk illustreert dat om bestaand vastgoed te transformeren naar woningen een effectieve mix van beleidsinstrumenten en activiteiten vereist is die is afgestemd op de marktbehoeften op zowel stedelijk als lokaal niveau. Achtereenvolgens wordt het overheidsbeleid ten aanzien van de transformatie naar wonen uiteengezet en gecategoriseerd teneinde een beeld te schetsen van de veelheid en mogelijke effectiviteit van dat beleid.

Despite the significant growth of the literature on adaptive reuse, little is known about the specific criteria unfolding throughout the different phases of the adaptive reuse decision-making process. To address this gap this paper aims to provide a comprehensive, state-of-the-art overview of the decision criteria for adaptive reuse throughout the adaptive reuse process. Through an integrative literature review with a systematic search strategy, three phases are substantiated: pre-project phase, preparation phase, and post-completion phase. This paper finds that despite the similarities between the different phases, with a predominant repetition of economic and architectural categories, more specific environmental decision criteria are still overlooked. The findings underscore the necessity for additional research on circularity within the adaptive reuse process, emphasizing the significance of the often overlooked implementation phase, crucial for practices like disassembly. By offering a novel process perspective on AR decision-making, this study contributes to the growing discourse on adaptive reuse and provides a basis for further enhancement of AR decision-making frameworks.

De woningmarkt is sinds het einde van de economische recessie in 2014 sterk verkrapt en heeft zich de afgelopen jaren ontwikkeld tot een aanbiedersmarkt. Hierbij is er een tekort aan woningen in verschillende categorieën. De vraag is of naast nieuwbouw en een betere inzet van de bestaande woningvoorraad ook transformatie van bestaande gebouwen een oplossing kan bieden om het huidige woningtekort terug te dringen. Dit hoofdstuk staat allereerst stil bij de vraag-aanbodverhoudingen op de woningmarkt. Aansluitend hierop worden marktaspecten van transformatie toegelicht. Tot slot volgt een reflectie op voorwaarden vanuit de markt voor succesvol transformeren van leegstaand vastgoed tot woningen.

Purpose: Commercial real estate (CRE) indicators typically include asset deals and exclude share deals. This study aims to explore the phenomenon of real estate share deals and assess whether omitting these transactions results in indicators that do not accurately reflect the market. Design/methodology/approach: Various registers in the Netherlands were used to estimate transaction volumes, total values and price developments of both share and asset deals. Share deals are company transfers and its transactions cover more than real estate. To estimate the contribution of real estate in share deals, valuations were used. Findings: In the Netherlands, share deals are most prominent for rental dwellings. Adding share deals to volume and value indicators seems required. In price development estimates, significant differences were found for dwellings between share and asset deals. Price indices should, therefore, also include share deals, but in practice this is difficult and has little impact on the outcomes due to the low weight of share deals. Research limitations/implications: Legislation has a major impact on choosing a share or asset deal. The significance of share deals is expected to vary amongst countries. Performing similar research in other countries will contribute in harmonising real estate indicators. Practical implications: Statistical agencies face many challenges in the construction of CRE indicators. This study provides statisticians knowledge that can be used to evaluate possible data gaps. Originality/value: This is the first study to estimate indicators of real estate share deals and compare these to asset deal indicators.