Building Revolutions

Foreword

The construction industry accounts for approximately 60% of UK materials use and one third of all waste arisings. Buildings are stripped out every few years and often torn down well short of their design life with hardly any products or materials being reclaimed for reuse. This linear model of ‘take, make and dispose’ is depleting the world’s precious resources and is creating mountains of waste with very little scope for reclamation.

In a circular economy, resources are kept in use and their value is retained. This starts at the design stage, where products are designed for disassembly and reuse and new business models incentivise reclaiming, refurbishing or remanufacturing products. In the building industry’s current, linear model, ...