Sustainability and Circularity - B Group

Vision and Scope

The Sustainability and Circularity research group is dedicated to transforming construction practices by embedding life cycle thinking and circular economy principles throughout the entire building life cycle — from early-stage design to end-of-life strategies. Our mission is to quantify environmental and economic impacts and provide data-driven, science-based decision support to enable a regenerative built environment.

By integrating system-level modelling, AI-enabled assessment tools, and circular design strategies, we aim to bridge the gap between sustainability ambitions and practical implementation in real projects.

Key Research Themes

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) — We develop and implement advanced LCA frameworks to evaluate both embodied and operational environmental impacts of building materials, components, and systems. Our assessments are aligned with international standards (e.g., ISO 14040/44) and Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), ensuring methodological rigour and comparability across projects.
Life Cycle Costing (LCC) — To enable cost-effective sustainable design, we integrate environmental assessments with economic modelling. This combined LCA–LCC approach supports investors, designers, and policy makers in making long-term, value-based decisions that balance financial performance with environmental responsibility.
Circular Economy and Resource Efficiency — Our research focuses on closing material loops through strategies such as reuse, design for disassembly, upcycling of industrial waste, and resource recovery. By linking circularity indicators with LCA/LCC outcomes, we advance scalable solutions for low-carbon, resource-efficient construction.

Selected Research and Ongoing Projects

AI-Driven Circularity Assessment Tools — Development of advanced machine learning models and digital workflows to enable rapid circularity evaluation during the early design phase, supporting architects and engineers in selecting optimal material and system configurations.
Industrial Waste Valorisation for Circular Construction — Utilisation of waste steel and other industrial by-products as reinforcement in concrete structures, reducing demand for virgin raw materials and maximising resource circularity. This project integrates structural performance testing, LCA, and LCC analyses to evaluate environmental and economic benefits.
Scenario-Based Circularity Modelling — Ongoing work on modelling different end-of-life pathways (reuse, recycling, downcycling) to optimise material flows, carbon reduction, and cost efficiency in future renovation and construction projects.