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Resource Use
Circular Economy
The built environment needs to move away from the linear economy and embrace circularity. This will reduce waste, carbon emissions and our impact on the natural world.
The built environment needs to move away from the take-make-waste economy. For a sustainable future, a regenerative, circular economy that rewards the reuse of finite materials and resources must take its place.
What is the Circular Economy?
At its simplest, the circular economy prioritises the reuse of materials, preventing the over extraction of natural resources and the number of usable materials that end up in landfill. More widely, it’s an economic model that builds overall system health by gradually decoupling economic activity from the consumption of finite resources. Its visionary principles consider a different way of doing business, placing more importance on regenerating nature, carbon reduction and sustainable resource management than our current system. In practice, it can look as small as a refill hub for groceries in a commercial development, or be more significant like retaining a building’s structure and utilising second hand steel.
Circular Economy Principles
But for practitioners in the construction industry what does following the circular economy look like?
First laid out in our 2019 Circular economy guidance for construction clients the Circular Economy principles for buildings demonstrate how to build circularity in at each lifecycle stage.
Maximise reuse (including refurbish and repurpose)
A. Reuse the existing asset B. Recover materials and products on site or from another site C. Share materials or products for onward reuse
Design buildings for optimisation
A. Design for longevity B. Design for flexibility C. Design for adaptability iv. Design for assembly, disassembly and recoverability
Use standardisation
Standardised, modular elements in buildings are created with less waste and are easier to reuse.
Products as a service
Creating payment systems whereby materials are treated as a service – the contractor pays for the service of using materials not for the materials themselves.
Minimise impact and waste
A. Use low impact new materials B.. Use recycled content or secondary material C. Design out waste D. Reduce construction impacts
How can we enable a Circular Economy?
On an asset or business level the principles empower us to make the decisions that promote a circular economy. However, we need systems change so that all of industry can embrace circularity. As part of our Advancing Net Zero programme, our 2023 report System Enablers for a Circular Economy, identified eight enablers we can harness to create this shift.
- Collaboration & early engagement
- Second-hand materials market
- Design for disassembly/ design principles
- Green contracts and leases
- Tax & legislation
- Green financing
- Metrics, benchmarks, and indicators
- Education
Explore the Circular Economy
Key resources
Materials Passports
These practical and technical guides give an overview of Materials Passports and their crucial role in promoting circularity and reuse in the built environment.
System Enablers for a Circular Economy
A toolkit that examines the barriers to a circular economy, and presents eight key enablers…
How Circular Economy Principles can impact carbon and value
Insight into the positive impact circular thinking can have in delivering whole life carbon reductions and value creation across construction projects.
Circular economy guidance for construction clients: How to practically apply circular economy principles at the project brief stage
Together with its members, UKGBC has produced a circular economy guidance for construction clients, which provides comprehensive practical guidance to support construction clients who want to ask for circular principles in their project briefs for non-domestic built assets.
News and Blogs
EPDs and Materials Passports in Circular Construction
The UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) has launched its latest guidance on materials passports, reinforcing…
19 Feb, 2025
What are Material Passports and what are the benefits of using them?
UKGBC’s Clare Wilde reflects on the role of material passports in driving a circular economy within our built environment.
7 Jun, 2024
What are the environmental impacts of construction materials? An introduction to Embodied Ecological Impacts
What are Embodied Ecological Impacts? Building on the concept of embodied carbon, embodied ecological impacts…
12 Feb, 2024
What does it mean to be 100% circular? Metrics, Benchmarks and Indicators for the Circular Economy
A circular economy embodies the fundamental principles of minimising waste and preserving the value of…
22 Sep, 2023
All Circular Economy Resources
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Low-Carbon Roof Extensions to Existing Buildings
Construction method adding lightweight, low-carbon roof extensions to existing buildings
Materials Passports Platforms
Solutions which facilitate the creation, storage, and use of materials passports
Materials Passports
These practical and technical guides give an overview of Materials Passports and their crucial role in promoting circularity and reuse in the built environment.
End Cat A Lighting Waste Campaign
Solution which tracks, traces, and reports on FF&E to aid decision making throughout an organisation
Bitesize Learning
UKGBC’s Bitesize Learning is a growing suite of introductory-level sustainability resources designed to build knowledge and confidence across industry on key sustainability topics.
So What Can I Do? – UKGBC Video Guides to Sustainability
This video series will help you understand sustainability in the built environment – and identify what role you can play in its transformation.
Extraction: a conversation on biodiversity at Lough Neagh
This short film highlights the pressing issues of material extraction and biodiversity loss by focusing on a single location.
Pall Mall
A deep retrofit of a Grade II listed building in Manchester City Centre targeting a 74% reduction Energy Use Intensity
Tempo
A deep retrofit of an office building in Maidenhead designed to achieve NABERS 5* and BREEAM Excellent certification.
Coal House
A deep retrofit off an office building in Cardiff City Centre that achieved BREEAM Excellent and SKA Gold.
Havelock
A deep retrofit of an office building in Manchester designed to achieve BREEAM Outstanding and NABERS 5* certification.
Minerva House
A deep retrofit of an office building in central London designed to achieve BREEAM Outstanding and NABERS 5* certification.
Resource Use
In the UK, construction, demolition and excavation account for 60% of material use and waste generation. Meanwhile, prices of construction materials in the UK rose by 4.9% between 2017 and 2018. Adopting circular economy principles offers a €1.8 trillion opportunity to the EU between 2015 and 2030.
