Abstract
BackgroundThe European building and construction sector is extremely resource-intensive. This makes the renovation of existing buildings, including the adaptive reuse of cultural heritage buildings (ARCH), important for reducing the materials and energy intensity of the sector. Currently, Europe is embarking on a Circular Economy (CE) strategy that directly affects the environmental indicators for buildings and landscapes, including ARCH. However, there is a misalignment between macro-level European CE policy goals and micro-level renovation and management of existing buildings and ARCH. The analysis shows that macro European Union-level indicators are too narrowly defined to effectively guide the implementation of CE at the micro-project level for ARCH.ResultsThis policy study develops a comprehensive ARCH Circular Environmental Impact Indicator Framework to close this gap by: (1) defining the research question; (2) identifying the causal network; and (3) selecting the best indicators. The study compares Circular Environmental Indicators for ARCH projects to current and developing European management schemes. Best practices in environmental impact assessment at the project level are highlighted for the building and construction sector in Europe.ConclusionsThe proposed new framework is a comprehensive and suitable list of explicitly circular environmental indicators for ARCH. The framework has immediate practical applications for practitioners and policymakers interested in the CE regime for buildings in Europe.
Highlights
The European building and construction sector is extremely resource-intensive
The present study shows that the environmental indicators for the refurbishment of existing buildings, the adaptive reuse of cultural heritage buildings, remains an unfilled gap in Europe’s Circular Economy (CE) policy
Discussion of results The findings indicate that the majority of the 12 most prevalent adaptive reuse of cultural heritage buildings (ARCH) environmental indicators correspond to well-known best practice indicators at the building project level in Europe
Summary
The European building and construction sector is extremely resource-intensive This makes the renovation of existing buildings, including the adaptive reuse of cultural heritage buildings (ARCH), important for reducing the materials and energy intensity of the sector. There is a misalignment between macro-level European CE policy goals and micro-level renovation and management of existing buildings and ARCH. Its purpose is to contribute to better alignment between macro-level European Circular Economy (CE) policies with micro-level renovation and management of existing buildings and ARCH. With this aim, the article proposes a new ARCH Circular Environmental Impact Indicator Framework. The framework has practical application to the European Union (EU) CE regimes for existing buildings, ARCH
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