World Green Building Council (WorldGBC) and its network of over 75 Green Building Councils are launching the Circular Built Environment Playbook — a critical guide for the building and construction sector around the world to accelerate the adoption of circular economy and resource efficiency principles. The principles of the circular economy can help us to achieve global climate targets: from minimising the extraction of materials and using more efficient designs, to optimising nature-based solutions and closing material loops at the end of a building’s lifecycle. This report presents strategies for the built environment to reduce its resource consumption and features market leadership and solutions from across WorldGBC’s global network. The use and waste of materials and products is trending in a dangerously unsustainable direction, with latest estimates showing that the world is only 7.2% circular, meaning over 90% of everything we make is discarded after use. Furthermore, in 2022, a year’s worth of biological resources were used in just seven months — that means currently we consume 75% more than the earth is able to replenish each year [1]. With our cities producing an estimated 70% of all global greenhouse gas emissions [2], and consuming almost half the resources extracted globally, our sector holds a significant portion of the responsibility. In ‘The Circular Built Environment Playbook’ WorldGBC acknowledges the essential role of the circular economy in tackling the global environmental crisis; whilst providing an unparalleled opportunity to regenerate resources and accelerate socio-economic development.  Circularity is fundamental for humanity to thrive alongside the natural environment, and within planetary boundaries. Through this playbook we hope to make the complex principles of the circular economy easy to understand for every actor in the built environment. We have mapped out more than 20 strategies of implementing circular design, construction and operation for the built environment, illustrated with best practice case studies from all over the world. All stakeholders must be ‘circular ready’ and lead the sector towards circularity becoming the new business-as-usual. Every actor in the building and construction supply chain must take action and help the transition — cross-sector collaboration will be key to overcome barriers towards a circular future. WorldGBC’s network aspires to see leadership from all governments and businesses. A circular economy is an essential part of the sustainability solution providing a foundation for future policy change and business innovation. Cristina Gamboa, CEO, WorldGBC, said:  “It is clear that if we want to secure a future for our planet and people, then we cannot keep going on this path of consumption and waste. That’s why our network is taking action to increase awareness and accessibility of circular economy solutions, by guiding all stakeholders towards sustainable, circular decision-making. The need for a circular built environment has never been more important and our Circularity Accelerator programme is shining a light on the solutions available.” Jona Byskata, Head of EU Public Affairs, Kingspan, said: “Circularity in the buildings sector is a very broad topic, and requires collaboration across all stakeholders. The Accelerator partnership allows such discussions to develop to help set future priorities where the environmental impacts matter most.” Dorota Bacal, Sustainability and Innovation Lead, VinZero, said: “You can only improve what you measure” has become the mantra of our industry. Data-driven decision making completely revolutionises the sustainability outcomes for the companies we work with. Data insights can significantly boost operational efficiencies, improve processes and reduce waste, whilst delivering cost, raw material consumption and carbon savings.”  Chris Trott, Partner Head of Sustainability, Foster + Partners, said: “Adopting circularity in the built environment is essential to achieve a regenerative balance, by facilitating the decarbonisation of the industry, limiting finite raw materials extraction and waste production all while staying within planetary boundaries.” Thank you to our global programme partners: Brightworks Sustainability, Foster + Partners, Vinzero and Kingspan and our technical partners, WSP, CBRE. We also thank our steering committee, expert panel, designers and dedicated team at WorldGBC for their support in developing the Circular Built Environment Playbook. References: [1] Circle Economy, 2022 Circularity Gap Report, January 2022 [2] United Nations (2018)  Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals 

SCAPE has become the first public sector body following publication of Procurement Policy Note (PPN) 03/23 to adopt the Common Assessment Standard for its pre-qualification requirements, joining a growing list of major contractors and clients specifying the standard for their supply chains. PPN 03/23, which was issued by the Cabinet Office in response to calls from Build UK and its members, updates the pre-qualification requirement for central Government departments and wider public sector bodies, meaning they can now use the Common Assessment Standard to pre-qualify suppliers for construction works contracts, rather than PAS 91. The Common Assessment Standard was developed by Build UK to raise the bar in assessing the competence of the construction supply chain. It has two levels – desktop and site-based – allowing companies to apply for the appropriate level dependent upon their trade, size and the requirements of their public and private sector clients. Currently available from any one of the Recognised Assessment Bodies, the Common Assessment Standard delivers on the commitment in the Construction Sector Deal for a standardised pre-qualification process and was recommended for use in the public sector by Professor David Mosey as part of his independent review of frameworks to “reduce waste and duplication [and] creat[e] efficiency savings for clients and industry”. The Common Assessment Standard will help to streamline public sector procurement as suppliers that hold certification from a Recognised Assessment Body will have already been assessed for stage 1 pre-qualification, meaning contracting authorities can focus on project specific requirements. SCAPE Group Procurement Director John Simons said: “Being able to use the Common Assessment Standard is a significant step forward in the simplification of the selection process for the public sector. Its use will not only de-risk elements of the process, but also enable public sector organisations to focus on project specific requirements for those firms who have already met the standard. The Common Assessment Standard will effectively standardise the selection process for the construction supply chain as only one annual assessment will be required in order to gain access to valuable opportunities.” Build UK Deputy Chief Executive Jo Fautley said: “We are delighted that SCAPE has joined organisations across the industry using the Common Assessment Standard. With pre-qualification costing the industry up to £1 billion each year, the efficiency savings offered by the Common Assessment Standard are more important than ever in the current market, and PPN 03/23 means that projects and programmes across the public sector can also now benefit from a reduction in duplication of time, effort and resources.” Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals 

Environmental Product Declarations offer facts for environmental and climate protection The building sector is responsible for over 30 percent of global CO2 emissions. In the fight against climate change and for an environmentally friendly future, it is therefore particularly important to build in a sustainable and resource-saving way. But how to find the most climate-friendly among all the products? How is sustainable planning and building possible? The best way is with measurable data and transparency. This can be found in the Environmental Product Declaration (EPD). Environmental Product Declarations are a method for the standardised presentation of the environmental impacts of products or services. EPDs provide a data basis that maps the entire life cycle of a building product or parts thereof and quantifies its environmental impacts. Environmental Product Declarations are based on the international standard ISO 14025, which applies to all sectors, but the construction industry is the pioneer in its application. The idea is that the standardised collection of environmental data on building products creates a comparable basis for sustainable construction planning. Planners, architects and builders then use this information to make an informed decision when making their selection. They use the EPD to determine which building products will minimise the environmental impact of their project. This supports sustainable construction and advances climate protection. At the same time, a sustainable way of doing business is also supported, which aims to conserve resources and reduce environmental pollution. In addition, customers can use them as evidence for various building certification systems such as LEED, BREEAM or DGNB. The most important contents of an EPD In an EPD, the environmental impacts of a product are recorded along the entire life cycle or in parts, including raw material extraction, production, transport, use, disposal and recycling, among others. For each area, various environmental criteria such as greenhouse gas emissions and resource consumption are recorded and evaluated. These results or environmental indicators flow into the EPD and enable comparability between building products. An important component of an Environmental Product Declaration is the assignment of the product to a specific product category. This classification in the Product Category Rules (PCR) is necessary to establish comparability between similar products. In each product category, the relevant environmental factors are recorded and included in the EPD. Environmental Product Declarations and Life Cycle Assessments – two that belong together Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) and Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) are two key elements of sustainability in the construction industry that are closely linked. Simplified, one can say that the EPD is a standardised summary of the results of a LCA. The LCA is carried out in four phases. First the purpose and scope of the LCA is defined. This is followed by a life cycle inventory, which records data collection and calculation methods to quantify relevant inputs and outputs of a product system. In the impact assessment phase, potential impacts on the environment are analysed with the help of the results of the life cycle inventory. In the final evaluation, the results of the life cycle inventory and the impact assessment are considered together. Depending on the building product, there are different approaches to assessing environmental impacts. All start from cradle and differ over the further life cycle of the product. The concept “cradle to grave” covers all phases of a product’s life, from raw material extraction to production, transport, use and disposal. It shows the complete ecological footprint from beginning to end. The approach “cradle to gate” records the ecological footprint of a product until it leaves the factory gate and before it is transported to the consumer. It does not take into account further environmental impacts during use and disposal. “Cradle to cradle” is the most comprehensive consideration. It is based on the principle of the circular economy, where products are designed so that they can either be fully recycled or composted at the end of their life cycle. It avoids the generation of waste and promotes the conservation of resources. How does aquatherm support its customers and partners with the LCA? aquatherm has had an ISO-compliant LCA carried out for four product families, which has been verified by an independent institute. Based on these Life Cycle Assessments, aquatherm provides customers with the corresponding EPDs for their projects. The results show that aquatherm piping solutions made of polypropylene have clear advantages compared to other materials such as copper or steel with regard to energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, water consumption and the amount of waste. The aquatherm environmental product declarations can be found at https://www.aquatherm.de/sustainability-2/?lang=en. Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals