The City Property Association hosted a discussion about the circular economy at the offices of Nuveen in the City of London on 6th June – focussing on the real estate and construction business.
The circular economy is defined in the London Plan Policy as retaining material value for the longest time, integrating new ways of designing, building, operating and deconstructing the built environment; efficient use of other resources such as water energy and land and supporting an economic transition that requires high level and long term thinking.
Anna Beckett of Buro Happold described this as designing out waste and designing for longevity, adaptability, flexibility and for disassembly and material reuse.
The panel consisted of Simon Allford from Allford Monaghan Morris, Piers Blewitt from GPE and Kerstin Kane from the City Corporation. Examples were given by the panel of buildings where items (in particular steel) are being passported to another building. The passport gives the item the credibility to be reused safely after being tested and found to be usable. The barriers to this way of working are economic as well as cultural issues such as overdesigning in the first place and an overspecification. Legal and technical issues also play a part in disincentivising this. The best examples so far in the UK, and known to the panel, are where the same company is developing two nearby sites thus minimising transport and storage and giving assurance of the items.
Issues raised included the likely lifetime of any building that needs to be longer than currently planned – thus keeping the embodied carbon in place. The panel agreed that, whilst there are clearly changes in office occupancy at present, there does not seem to be a large shift to downsize. Space is needed at least some of the days of the week and is being internally repurposed for communal space and break out areas. A suggestion was made that there needs to be a better cohesive waste strategy so that items can be repurposed and reused. Presently different London Boroughs have different plans and a cohesive whole will help to create a truly efficient circular economy.
Alderman Alison Gowman
Founder and Chair, Livery Climate Action Group