The most recent publication from the CIRCuIT project explores the possibilities the four CIRCuIT city administrations – Copenhagen, Hamburg, Helsinki region and London – have for including requirements for circular economy and construction in their urban planning policy instruments and procedures. The publication identifies a wide range of potential legislative, fiscal and communication policies to promote the reuse and recycling of building products and materials, adaptive reuse and refurbishment, and design for disassembly.

The research found that while there were many potential options for encouraging circular economy through planning requirements and the building regulations and codes, the autonomy each city had in applying these to their locality was limited by the national frameworks. Despite these differences in the levels of autonomy, there are some interventions which look promising across the cities, which include:

• requiring pre-demolition audits,
• making the pre-demolition audit data publicly available and
• setting requirements either around the reuse and recycling of waste or the incorporation of recycled or reclaimed components into new constructions.

More information on the Circuit report can be found here.