Circular Building Design for the Infill Domain: Materialisation, and Value Network study of the Niaga ECOR Panel innovation

Abstract

Circular Building gained traction during the past decade in the Netherlands. Circular Building (CB) is rooted in concepts such as Circular Economy and Cradle-to-Cradle®, accentuating closing and continuing of material flows to establish sustainable resource cycles. CB implies that buildings and building components are designed to retain value, tailored for specific service lives and responsive to changing needs. This way, wasting of buildings and building components can be reduced or avoided. This paper revolves around circular materialisation and operation of building infill, such as furniture, partitions, and kitchens. The short to medium-long material cycles usually associated with those components provide potential benefits for circular resource management. The paper comprises a study into materialisation and operational performance of the Niaga ECOR Panel (NEP): an innovative cellulose board product. NEP aims to offer a healthy and circular alternative for conventional linear board products and value chains, adhering to multiple Sustainable Development Goals, notably: SDG11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) and SDG12 (Responsible Production and Consumption). The study follows Circ-Flex assessment guidelines, anticipating operational performance through the supply, use, and reverse-supply chain. The findings indicate that the intrinsic properties of the NEP can enable circular infill value models, provided that networked actors remain aligned.