of lifecycle stages such as New Construction,

Refurbishment, In-Use and Demolition & Disassembly.

Globally almost 2,3 million buildings have been
registered for assessment since the standard was
launched in 1990.

Circular economy principles can accelerate positive

impacts
The incorporation of circularity principles in such
frameworks has only begun recently. Sustainability
frameworks have pushed the sector forward,
yet caveats remain, in particular with regard to
disassembly, reuse and repurposing of buildings
and materials. Circular economy principles can
provide solutions to further develop and improve
sustainability frameworks from both material and
system perspectives. The Roadmap for Circular Land
Tendering for the city of Amsterdam is a milestone
in this regard, and is used as a first step to further
incorporate the principles of the circular economy into
existing assessment frameworks such as BREEAM.

The right time to suggest practical strategies for

circular buildings
The Circular Buildings project is timely for two reasons:

• Circularity in the construction sector is high

on public and corporate agendas. The Dutch
government has globally set the tone with the
recent publication of the Transition Agenda for
a circular construction sector. At European level,
circular construction has gained traction as well.
Many companies have already taken the first steps
to become circular. In this transitional period,
there is a clear need for uniform frameworks and
practical strategies to boost the transition.

• The Dutch versions of BREEAM New Construction

(NC) and BREEAM Refurbishment and Fit-Out
(RFO) are in the process of being developed,
based on the existing Dutch version called
BREEAM-NL Nieuwbouw en Renovatie. This
represents a great opportunity to discuss the
potential introduction and testing of indicators
- both for the international standard as well as
for the Dutch adaptation - that improve the
circularity of buildings.