Material Passports

A new method for carbon reduction in typically intensive new materials was implemented by this contractor, putting circular economy principles into practice. Materials Passports are digital documents that report everything you need to know about the building’s component parts to facilitate future re-use at a much-reduced carbon count. Taking waste from one project and using it as a resource for another is the essence of circular economy, an increasingly applauded concept intended to reduce human environmental impact.

The project team have made it significantly easier for materials to be diverted into re-use and avoid waste thanks to the latest design techniques and increased materials data visibility. This contractor is collaborating with Waterman, BRE, City of London, and EU-funded CIRCuIT (Circular Construction in Regenerative Cities) to standardise the process and reporting for roll out across the UK. Bridging the gap between theory and reality and showcasing how circular construction approaches enable us to build more sustainably and transition to a circular built environment.

Materials Passports hold digital data sets of the building’s characteristics, materials and components to provide robust, reliable information on the potential value for present use, recovery, and future re-use. The ambition is to give owners, occupiers, design teams and construction teams the confidence to re-use in the future, either during the building’s operation or at the end of its lifetime.