CIRCULAR ECONOMY ROUNDTABLE

Last night, the National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC) UK & Ireland London and Southeast run an insightful event at the showroom of Kinnarps Group  in Farringdon. The Circular economy roundtable was organized by Rosemary Silver, deputy Chair and Building Surveyor, and had Circular Economy as the thread to join the dots connecting a great panel of experts.

The event covered many innovative ideas that could have a positive impact on our future as an industry if widely implemented

Domnica Chisca and Richard Dudzicki from RDA Architects Ltd shared several case studies in which repurposing and retrofitting had been the driver. They spoke about the architect’s responsibility to identify issues and solutions to find impactful solutions for their clients that required fewer resources to become a reality.

Mat Barnes spoke about imagining building interventions as moments in the life of a building we are custodians of rather than a goal to achieve. He also provided several examples where discarded materials had been given value through the use or role they had been assigned.

Steve Sliney MCIWM discussed why his company Collecteco acts as a bridge between companies who have access to materials that no longer serve them (and are still in great condition) and not-for-profits and community initiatives whose limited resources often do not allow them to fix the spaces from where they support those communities.

Fredrik Bergsten used Kinnarps Group as a case study to demonstrate how manufacturers can think about the lifetime of the products they design and make sure that each component can be repaired without replacing the entire product.

I was fortunate enough to run the panel discussion that followed the insightful presentations and ask the many follow up questions I had .

During the discussion, we talked about the challenges that come from implementing Circular Economy principles in the UK. These challenges include preserving data contained within each project so that it’s available at the end of its life when components move to become part of their next cycle in their life, lack of familiarity with Circular Economy principles among domestic clients, and the habit of framing homes as assets.

We also discussed how despite sustainability having evolved, there remains a resistance stemming from a learned “preference for the new” that will require better communication focused on highlighting long-term gains of repairing, repurposing or retrofitting instead.

I personally really enjoyed the discussion and left very inspired.

As a final note, I must thank our brilliant hosts Fredrik Bergsten and Luciana Tavares MCIM who were brilliant, to Rosemary Silver for inviting me to run the panel discussion and Annie Clift Birgit Doyle Beatrice Eke-Agbai and Artur Kaliszewski for your contributions to the discussion.