Towards circular loops! How to create the first steps? This was the theme of the workshop organized by Huygen at the yearly meeting of project managers of real estate of Dutch Universities at Maastricht University. About 90 project managers joined the workshop to brainstorm about circular building.
As the Dutch government is adopting higher sustainability standards to achieve a fully circular economy by 2050 (Bouwagenda), tender requirements and procurement guidelines are evolving. It is therefore important that all the stakeholders involved in the value chain are progressing with circular economy integration.
The aim of the workshop was to evaluate and analyze on how building managers can help towards closing the cycles. Using the circular economy as a framework and set of principles, we can think differently about how we design our university buildings and create sustainable environment for the whole Dutch educational system.
After an introduction and a number of practical examples, the project managers started working in groups themselves. We asked each group to look at a building that we selected that needs to be renovated and to come up with circular solutions. The assignment was to answer 3 questions:
– Which solution will have the most impact?
– Which solution is the easiest to implement?
– What would be your biggest challenge?
Each group presented their findings after the brainstorming session. It was an inspiring afternoon full of valuable and out of the box ideas
