Resources & Circularity

Find all the data, tools, information you need to carry out EN15804 compliant whole life carbon assessment of buildings in Ireland.

The Carbon Designer tool is a simple way to estimate the carbon impact of your project at an early stage of building design. The tool is free and quickly shows you the differences you can make to the overall carbon impact by selecting different material build ups of large elements such as walls, floors and roof.

Learn how to use our Carbon Designer for Ireland, a free early-stage whole life carbon assessment tool.

Presenter: Stephen Barrett

Better Homes 2021 is all about innovation for low carbon buildings and timber construction.
Speakers: Minister of State for Agriculture Pippa Hackett, Conan O’Ceallaigh, Joe Giddings and Joe Giddings.

Cathal Heneghan, Meehan Green

What is Life Cycle assessment and why is it important? When designing low carbon homes and buildings and how can embodied carbon be optimised and reduced? What are EPDs and where can I find them?

One Click LCA is a one stop Carbon and Life-cycle Metrics Softwar, made for construction.
Join upcoming live webinars or watch recorded ones on their website.

This NUI Galway’s website section provides a list of CLT manufacturers and suppliers, approved for use with European Technical Approvals (ETAs) along with informative articles and CLT design tools.

GreenSpec is the foremost ‘Green Building’ resource in the UK.  Independent of companies and trade bodies and launched in 2003 with government funding, GreenSpec promotes sustainable building products, materials and construction techniques.

To reach carbon neutrality, we must address embodied carbon. What would it take to embed whole life carbon thinking in the design of our buildings? Watch this IGBC’s 2-minutes video. {Supported by EPA Reasearch}

Online conference on how to reduce embodied carbon in construction. The conference, showcasing a range of initiatives and solutions available that address embodied carbon, was a huge success. The attendees could get loads of information from the best experts in the industry. The attendees learnt about several collaborative initiatives that share information about green designs, materials and benchmarking tools.

A 30 minutes introductory video to the Unified Water Label, a smart tool that provides a means to identify water-using products, with a common label that offers clear, concise and easy to understand messaging about water and energy consumption

Is circularity measurable? What are the key concepts to be considered when designing a building? In London circularity statements are required on larger developments at planning stage. How can these be prepared and what are the key things about designing to ensure zero waste and reuse of all components?

How is the European policy moving beyond energy efficiency to total carbon reduction and resource efficiency? How is the EU Framework Level(s) charting a course to Life Cycle Assessment and circularity?

This introductory webinar is delivered in partnership with CITA, CIOB and GMIT

The transition to a circular economy is not possible without coordinated, coherent action by multiple different stakeholders groups in the existing linear economy. Drawing on recent research from the EU Horizon 2020 CIRCuIT project, as well as expertise and experience from London and Finland, this webinar will explore essential practices and enablers for achieving a circular economy through decision-making by key actors within cities.

What role can material exchange platforms play in ensuring that materials go into closed loops of reuse. How can we know that reused materials are fit for use and how do we track or source these materials? Materials Exchange provides a dating site for reused materials allowing them to be tracked through blockchain and made available across sectors providing information on ingredients and standards. How can the platform transform a mere building into a ‘Building As a Material Bank’? Can this approach work in Ireland?

Waugh Thistlton is one of the leaders in mass timber construction in the UK. Mass timber construction offers an ideal way for circular low carbon construction. Not only can it speed up the construction process but it can minimise the need for finishes. Lightweight components allow easy demountability, easy connections and reuse options.

Life Cycle Assessment of buildings and full carbon footprinting across the life cycle provides a powerful way of assessing the overall impact of a building and its components and is an essential tool in the transition to circularity. What are the relevant standards and how can professionals get started measuring and reducing the impact of their buildings.

Wood is the quintessential low carbon building material. This webinar explores products and solutions available that use wood both structurally as a building component including wood fibre insulation, oriented strand board and cross laminated timber construction.

Presenters: David Murray Medite Smartply, Martin Twamley Steico, Lee Murphy G-Frame.

Ensuring a high performance, continually insulated building envelope is key to achieving an energy efficient building. This webinar looks at the benefits of the SIMS solution, single leaf construction with external insulation and insulated foundation systems.

Presenter: Jason Martin – Mannok and Andrew Butler KORE

Choosing efficient and healthy interior products contributes to the overall sustainability of a project. In this webinar looks at low flow bathroom fittings and low impact paints and flooring.

Presenters: Pat Gatley Graphenstone Paints, Mark Bauer Forbo and Andrew Murphy, Bathquip

For building products to be truly sustainable, they need to be circular. This webinar showcases two exciting Irish examples of circularity, insulation made from newspapers and an aggregate made from construction demolition waste.

Presenters: John Egan Ecocel and Cian O’Hora IMS

The most sustainable building is an existing building, so renovating our building stock to be more energy efficient is key to achieving carbon savings. This webinar looks at mineral wool as a low-cost solution for mass renovation and heat pumps for water heating.

Presenters: Jason Horrex St Gobain and Cian Tobin Ideal Energy

Developed by Arup and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, this toolkit brings together strategies, case studies and tools for designing more circular buildings, meaning reduced waste and carbon for a healthier planet and healthier people.

Panel discussion with industry leaders, exploring how Circular Design Toolkit provides a practical framework to enable stakeholders across the building lifecycle to optimise assets for circularity.    

Watch the recording of the Irish Architecture Foundation’s New Now Next 2021 talk by Anne Lacaton & Jean-Phillippe Vassal. Moderated by Yvonne Farrell & Shelley McNamara from Grafton Architects.

Level(s) is the European Union’s common language framework for sustainable buildings. If you are a built-environment sector professional, this short animation will show you some of the many benefits of using Level(s) in your working environment.

This TED Talk is an introduction to Circular Economy in the construction sector by David Cheshire.

The European Commission launched its ambitious Circular Economy Action Plan. But what does this mean for the built environment? How can our sector achieve both circularity and net zero carbon?

Regenerate is a circular economy engagement tool for all those involved in the design and construction of buildings. It can be applied to all building types, retrofits and new builds.

These guidelines help embed sustainability for SMEs in the construction industry. The topics are water management and reduction opportunities during construction, waste management and reduction opportunities during construction, energy reduction opportunities and 2 case studies.

Reusing building materials is common sense. But is it feasible? How can we make it happen? This 3-minute video gives an insight into the construction industry’s waste problem and to encourage more reuse amongst construction professionals (FCRBE Projet Interreg North-West Europe, July 2020)

This course, delivered in four easy-to-read emails, will take you through the basics in Circular Economy in the Built Environment with key principles and the latest research.

Resources used in the building sector have a huge carbon footprint. Find out about IGBC initiatives to reduce embodied carbon, promote the use of Life Cycle Assessment and embed circular thinking into building design.

Presenters: Rosemarie Mac Sweeney and Stephen Barrett

Regenerate ia a circular economy engagement tool for all those involved in the design and construction of buildings. It can be applied to all building types, retrofits and new builds.

Presenters: Will Mihkelson & Charles Gillott (University of Sheffield)

Circle House is the world’s first residential project designed and built after the principles of circular economy, which, among other things, means the building can be disassembled, and the project’s materials can be reused without loss of value.

Test site includes a pavilion, a ‘Coill Bheag’ (small native woodlands), seating and hoarding elements. The vision is one which sees a structure for public engagement constructed so that waste is prevented at each stage of its lifecycle, from design to the end of the TEST SITE Project.

Presenters: Klaus Jensen & Mia Scheel from RUM Architects; Ailbhe Cunningham, Architect and TEST SITE Co-Creator

Circular Design Institute, which is focused on supporting designers and companies transitioning to the circular economy.

The old district heating boiler house was repurposed from a shed that lost heat to a low energy public building designed to influence visitors behaviour to waste and promote the circular economy.

Presenters: Elaine Butler, Circular Design Institute & Daragh Lynch, Darragh Lynch Arcitects

Education for Sustainability, Digital Construction, Construction Resource Efficiency and the Circular Economy.

Waste and resource management sector developing : waste strategy, plans, capacity and data analysis.

Presenters:  Mark Kelly and Warren Phelan

The final session in our Circularity in Practice series will focus on the work of the Circular Built Environment Hub at TUDelft. The Hub is a platform for researchers of the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment with the aim of promoting the development of knowledge towards a circular built environment that enables the design of future buildings, cities and infrastructures.

Presenters: Dr. Ing. Olga Ioannou , Dr. R.J. Geldermans MSc,Dr. Dipl.-Ing. Alexander Wandl, Prof. Dr.-Ing Tillmann Klein.

Rachel Hoolahan, Orms sustainability co-ordinator and UKGBC Design for Circularity working group leader, explains how she collaborated with a multidisciplinary team to develop an open-source design-led approach to material passports for retrofit.

Stuart Blofeld, BRE

What is best practice in waste management on site? What should be considered? How to develop a waste management plan? How best to implement the strategy on site? What tools are available?

This demo will introduce you to the core capabilities and features of the BRE SmartWaste Environmental Reporting Tool. This demo is run by Stuart Blofeld; lead senior trainer from BRE. You can find the slides of this presentation below.

What is Building Whole life carbon, Embodied Carbon and Life cycle assessment (LCA) Why is it important? How is it done. What tools can I use? What data should I use? Where can I get further training?

Case study on whole life carbon. Why should investors and developers consider embodied carbon and whole life carbon assessment? What are the challenges? What are the opportunities?

What are EPD? Why do I need one? When does a product need an EPD or when is it a subset of a Building LCA?  How do I use one? Can I get help in developing an LCA and how are they developed?

The data in EPD is complex and difficult to compare side by side. How can the EC3 tool help compare data in the EPD?