AMSTERDAM, 26 July 2018 – Experts bundle their knowledge to tackle challenges in the construction sector to finance circular construction. The Community of Practice 'Financing Circular Construction’ will provide a practical roadmap to design and create a viable and financeable circular residential housing project in Amsterdam.A circular building is designed in a way that it can be entirely disassembled and individual components can be readily repaired, reused or repurposed. In the construction and use phase, resources are optimally used and the use of raw or toxic materials is minimised.
Community of Practice (CoP)The working group format Community of Practice (CoP) is an initiative of NederlandCirculair! and emphasises the importance of a collaborative approach, connecting relevant industry stakeholders. The Circular Construction CoP follows the 2017 Circular Phone CoP, where accountants, legal and financial experts created several practical, open-source tools that support entrepreneurs in their ambition to realise service-based business models.
After the successful Circular Phone CoP last year, we are happy to have, once again, gathered such an impressive group of experts that will help overcome legal, financial and valuation barriers for the construction industry. We are very optimistic that we will be able to create practical tools that accelerate a circular built environment.- Fieke de Haan, Lead Finance Program Circle Economy
Focus on construction sector; participation Eigen HaardCircle Economy's Circularity Gap Report states that the built environment is the largest consumer of raw materials, using 42.4 billion tonnes annually. This is 40% of our total annual resource use. Social Housing corporation Eigen Haard is aware of the impact of the built environment on the environment. Circularity in constructing and maintenance is one of its long-term goals.
At Eigen Haard we have recently defined our circular ambitions. This CoP offers an ideal opportunity to source and apply expert knowledge to one of our residential housing projects and accelerate our circular ambitions.- Jeffrey Hirs, Projectcontroller Eigen Haard
A new model for the construction sectorThe CoP aims to develop new, circular business models that accelerate the transition to a circular construction sector. To do so, the sector has to evaluate aspects like design, material choice, and possibilities of maintenance and reuse. Circular strategies force the industry stakeholders to redesign the way they work together, change cash flows and risk evaluation mechanisms. Questions that will be tackled during the CoP focus on harvesting, circular design, new perspectives on ownership, legal constructions and the valuation and financing of buildings. The outcomes and practical tools following the project will be published in an open source whitepaper.The 'Financing Circular Construction’ CoP takes place from June until October 2018, is co-funded by NederlandCirculair! and brings together ING, Allen & Overy, Eigen Haard, The Royal Netherlands Institute of Chartered Accountants, Alfa Accountants and Advisors, RICS, Madaster, Arcadis, Arup, Sustainable Finance Lab, DOOR Architecten and Circle Economy.
For more information about the CoP Financing Circular Construction, contact us:
Aglaia Fischer: aglaia@circle-economy.com