🏗️ How circular is a circular building—5 %, 10 %, or more?
That was one of the key questions discussed during my lecture “Decision Support for Circularity in Office Building Design” at the First LTH Circular Building Sector Seminar at Lund University (LTH), hosted by Pieter de Wilde.
Grateful to have had an in-depth exchange with Kavan Javanroodi and Marie-Claude Dubois (Professor of Sustainable Architecture, Lund University & SLU), exploring opportunities for future collaboration and EU research funding in the field of circular and low-carbon construction.
Together with Kristina Mjörnell, we examined why reuse rates in buildings often remain limited - typically 5–10% - as municipalities are not yet prepared to link demolition permits and building policies with circularity objectives.💡 I emphasized that retained value is the true engine of the circular economy:
“If we don’t retain value on day one, there will be no circularity on day two. Circular design means creating recoverable value from the start, because once it’s lost at design, it can’t be regained at demolition.”
We also discussed how LCA frameworks can better handle materials with indefinite lifetimes, such as copper or lead, challenging our current standards for measuring circularity. The presentation was developed in collaboration with my PhD student, Muheeb Al-Obaidy, building on our work in CEN 350/Working Group 1 on EN 18177 and on the ongoing coordination between the NBN shadow committee, CENELEC, and COST Circular B.
It was also a great pleasure to reconnect with MOHAMED ASKALANI, a fellow graduate from our shared alma mater. After more than 15 years, meeting again reminded me how meaningful long-term academic friendships can be.
🙏 Warm thanks to all participants: Md Omor Faruk Monsi Parvaz, Maryam Fakhari, Asala Bandak, Pouria Khalili AtaAbadi, Minh Le, and the Lunds tekniska högskola community; for the thoughtful dialogue and inspiring discussions.
đź“š Learn more about my circular design research: www.shadyattia.org
đź“Ś See my latest posts: https://lnkd.in/eR-jiXtR
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