The EU-funded CityLoops project has published “Circular construction in Europe: handbook for local and regional governments”. The handbook shows in-depth the circular activities and instruments that Apeldoorn (the Netherlands), Bodø (Norway), Mikkeli (Finland), Seville (Spain) and Høje-Taastrup and Roskilde (Denmark) have implemented during the four years they worked on CityLoops, and provides other cities and regions with a step-by-step overview of how they can replicate these activities within their own context.

The handbook also shows how CityLoops’ activities fit into the broader context of the European circular transition, providing an overview of the state of the art. it highlights that circular construction is a flourishing topic with more and more uptake throughout Europe, while emphasising that construction sector is still only at the beginning of its circular transition. The sector is one of the most important and resource-intensive sectors, both from an economic and environmental standpoint. It accounts for roughly half of all material extraction, half of energy consumption, a third of water consumption and 40% of all greenhouse gas emissions.

By changing this unsustainable and harmful linear pattern of ‘take-make-dispose’ the circular economy can reduce the negative impacts that the construction sector has on the environment while retaining and enhancing economic value. This was the intent behind the tools, instruments and study cases that have been developed over the four years of CityLoops. The handbook features practical examples outlining how cities implemented these developed tools, why they made certain decisions, what they could have done differently, and how all this fits into broader European circular strategies and policies.

The handbook will be introduced during CityLoops’ final webinar on Construction and Demolition Waste on 27 September (13-16h CET). The webinar will present in depth the main results from the project's work with Construction and Demolition Waste, giving an overview of how they could be replicated in other cities.

The handbook can be downloaded here.

For more information on the webinar, click here

The webinar can be accessed via the link below