Materials Passports

In the UK, construction, demolition, and excavation account for 60% of material use and waste generation. Addressing the over-extraction and under-utilisation of building materials is crucial in protecting the world’s finite resources and the interlinked climate and nature crisis. Materials passports are an innovative digital tool that can help reduce emissions, minimise waste, and encourage reuse and circularity across the built environment.
We need to move to a new way of thinking, working, and delivery; a circular economy must be part of the equation. We must revaluate the way we think about and approach the building cycle by considering everything from design all the way to end-of-life planning.
In recent years, materials passports have gained prominence in the built environment sector for their use in promoting circularity, climate mitigation, and waste reduction. These ‘passports’ digitally store key information on construction materials and products, supporting the recovery and reuse of these materials over their life cycle. In the built environment sector, these lifecycle documents act as a tool for data and understanding end-of-life options for materials. By digitally logging the trajectory of these components, materials passports are crucial in unlocking circularity and promoting material reuse in the built environment.

Materials Passports Practical Guide
Our practical guide covers key principles of materials passports, such as why they’re important, key considerations, key stakeholders to engage with, and more.

Materials Passports Information Reference Guide
Our information reference guide is mainly aimed at clients, design teams, contractors, and manufacturers. It outlines the way in which materials passports will be most beneficial and which data/information is considered essential, recommended, and optional to include in a passport.

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