Circular Construction in Regenerative Cities: A H2020 project

The poster presents an overview of the H2020 project ‘Circular Construction in Regenerative Cities’ (CIRCuIT), started in June 2019, and Tampere University’s (TAU’s) planned activities. The project cities are Copenhagen (coordinator), London, Hamburg, and Vantaa, Finland.

The project has four areas of focus: (1) mapping the flows and stocks of materials in the built environment, (2) urban mining and recycling and reuse of building materials, (3) life cycle extension of buildings through their transformation, and (4) design for deconstruction (DfD) and adaptability.
In the first topic, i.e. flows and stocks of building materials, a material flow analysis is planned for parts of the building stock in Vantaa. The work is underlain by a previous project, where TAU reviewed the methods and materials available for built environment MFA in Finland.

In the second topic, i.e. urban mining, TAU focuses on the reuse of building components. Tests are planned for deconstructed components in TAU’s construction laboratory to verify their properties and to compare them to those of virgin products. The work also contributes to standardized testing procedures for secondary components.

TAU is the WP leader for the third topic, i.e. life cycle extension of buildings. A GIS-based analysis on the demolition and renovation patterns is conducted in Vantaa to identify obsolete but transformable buildings types. Then, archetypes of these building types are formed and different development scenarios are designed. Lastly, the life cycle impacts of the scenarios are assessed.

In the fourth topic, i.e. DfD and adaptability, TAU has two distinct focuses. Firstly, the barriers to implementing more flexible housing is reviewed in an interview study of experts. Secondly, possibilities to design buildings for deconstruction is reviewed.