Circular economy implementation strategies, barriers and enablers for UK rail infrastructure projects

Abstract

The circular economy (CE) represents a shift away from society's traditional linear ‘take, make, disposal’ model of consumption, which exacerbates resource scarcity and climate change. It could also enable built environment sectors like rail infrastructure to operate and provide value for society more sustainably. However, while various strategies could support the CE transition, there is little evidence of their implementation for rail infrastructure to date. Also, despite growing research addressing CE practice in the built environment sector, most articles rely on secondary data. There is a need for more research based on primary data to bring new insights and guide the industry towards CE implementation. This research investigates the importance of CE implementation strategies, barriers and enablers for UK rail infrastructure projects through an industry-wide survey. It discusses the findings of an online questionnaire (n=50) and 15 semi-structured interviews with representatives from UK rail industry organizations. The results generally show rail infrastructure as being less commercial, but also more permanent, risk-averse and resistant to change. As such, value optimization and life extension should be more relevant than for buildings. However, greater resistance to change may hinder CE implementation, which is seen as requiring a paradigm shift away from the current linear model of consumption. Client leadership will be key in this respect, because of their scale, influence and long-term responsibility for asset ownership, but they may require support from government to overcome various structural factors. Government could also help by setting CE procurement requirements in contracts for rail infrastructure projects.