Statement by Dr. Peter Mösle

Not a day goes by today without reporting and discussing the effects of climate change and the future of our planet. Against this background, there is also a lot of movement in the construction and real estate industries right now. Position papers and emergency declarations from important trade associations, such as the DGNB's “Framework for Climate-Neutral Buildings and Sites,” “House of Earth” by the Federation of German Architects and voluntary initiatives such as “Architects for Future,” show that the industry is becoming increasingly aware of the seriousness of the situation and is now serious about changing it. As the largest consumer of the world's raw materials and source of immense amounts of waste, the construction industry has a responsibility like hardly any other branch of industry to provide quick and effective solutions to climate and resource problems.

Focus on circular construction

Although energy efficiency, CO2 savings and the use of renewable energy are almost standard criteria in many construction projects today, this is only “half the battle” compared to the overall problem. The other part concerns dealing with the scarcity of raw materials and the littering of our earth. Without ways of thinking such as Cradle to Cradle®, C2C for short, there is no solution in sight. The C2C design concept stands for a virtually infinite circulation of resources in closed cycles, which allows gross value added to be decoupled from resource consumption. This is the basis for achieving a substantial improvement in climate protection.

For example, interdisciplinary research teams are increasingly focusing on material cycles, manufacturers and producers are working on the development of completely recyclable and compostable building materials using concepts such as C2C, and more and more builders are already using them in their projects. Similar to how the topic of energy suddenly came up in the late 1970s with the oil crisis, the development and use of recyclable materials is now the focus of industry and the construction industry. And just as the profession of an energy consultant was necessary back then, it is now clear that a new specialist discipline — the circular engineer or the materials specialist planner — is needed to solve the challenges in an integrative way with the architect and client. This new planning discipline deals with the major task of “materiality” holistically in the project. To date, construction has lacked the appropriate specialist expertise, and traditional engineering disciplines are unable to fully cover the required know-how.

Innovation partners required for all material issues in the project

Against this background, architecture and planning firms in particular are faced with the major task of responding to the growing demands of building owners and rethinking their concepts in terms of their recyclability and positive sustainability. They need a contact person in projects who supports them in developing innovative design strategies, provides them with information about joining techniques and the chemical composition of materials, and is familiar with the material properties of building products. At the same time, planning skills must be available — a chemist without knowledge of planning and construction processes is unsuitable for this role. In the future, this function will therefore be assumed by a circular engineer or material specialist planner, who hardly exists in this form today, as there is hardly any other university with such training. One company that has the necessary broad professional expertise is, for example, EPEA GmbH — Part of Drees & Sommer. For several years, experts have been integrating the Cradle to Cradle design principle into construction projects, testing and optimizing products for their recyclability, carrying out C2C product certifications as an accredited assessor and working closely with product manufacturers.

However, it is not enough for just a few to address these issues. Everyone is in demand, everyone must deliver. One thing is certain: If the construction and real estate sector wants to make a truly tangible contribution to climate protection and resource conservation, there is no way around the circular economy. It is also certain that today we can no longer afford long deliberations, waiting to see what others do, and slow approaches. It is a race against time!