Construction Goes Circular®, Dutch edition: Circular construction is already moving from ambition to action
On May 20, Peikko Benelux hosted a Construction Goes Circular® event in Arnhem, the Netherlands, bringing together customers, researchers, and industry leaders to discuss how circular construction can be accelerated in practice.
The discussions showed that circularity is no longer only a future target. In the Netherlands, nearly one-third of materials are already circular, and the built environment is increasingly looking for ways to reduce both embodied and operational carbon. The direction is clear: smarter design, better material efficiency, and stronger collaboration across the value chain are needed to create a measurable impact.
Speakers included Huub Keizers, Business Director Circular Construction & International Cooperation at TNO Netherlands; Dr. Anne Pluymakers, Associate Professor in Geoscience and Engineering at TU Delft; Prof. Simon Wijte, Professor of Sustainment of Concrete Structures at TU Eindhoven; and Prof. Dr. Jacqueline Cramer, Emeritus Professor of Sustainable Innovation at Utrecht University, and Chair of the Concrete Agreement and the Steel Construction Agreement.
A recurring message throughout the event was that circular outcomes depend on decisions made early. Structural choices, design for disassembly, local material flows, and the reuse of demolition waste all influence whether circularity remains a principle or becomes a practical result.
Key insights from the event included:
- The built environment in the Netherlands has a significant carbon challenge, with both embodied and operational emissions requiring attention
- Circularity by design can increase the future reuse value of buildings and structural elements
- Local demolition waste and regenerative materials can help reduce dependence on virgin materials
- Design for disassembly is becoming essential for enabling future reuse
- Collaboration between customers, academia, designers, and industry is needed to turn circular thinking into a scalable practice
The Benelux discussions showed that circular construction is moving from pilot projects toward procurement, planning, and everyday decision-making.
The event reinforced a message also heard at the Peikko Conference: circular construction starts long before materials are reused. It begins with design choices, data, collaboration, and the willingness to plan for a building’s next life from the start of its first.
This month’s key insight: circular construction is no longer mainly a question of what happens at the end of a building’s life. It is increasingly defined by the decisions made at the very beginning: design, documentation, material choices, and collaboration.
Peikko Conference takeaways: What circular construction asks from precast concrete
On June 9–11, more than 300 Peikko employees representing over 40 nationalities gathered at the Peikko Conference in Lahti, Finland, where Peikko Group’s headquarters are located. One of the key moments of the event was the keynote by Professor Wit Derkowski, Chair of fib Commission 6 Prefabrication at the International Federation for Structural Concrete, from Cracow University of Technology, Poland, and Linnaeus University, Växjö, Sweden.
In his presentation, Precast concrete in circular construction: Towards sustainable and responsible engineering, Professor Derkowski highlighted a clear message: circular construction must start much earlier than demolition or reuse planning. It begins at the design table.
The construction industry is under increasing pressure to reduce emissions, use materials more efficiently, and respond to stricter sustainability requirements. For precast concrete, this creates both a challenge and an opportunity. Buildings and structural elements need to be designed, documented, and produced in ways that support future reuse, adaptation, and disassembly.
Many of the needed solutions already exist: low-carbon concrete, optimized structural design, better documentation of elements, testing methods, digital tools, and closer collaboration between industry and academia. The real impact comes from scaling these solutions and applying them in everyday projects.
Key takeaways from the keynote included:
- Integrating design for disassembly and reuse into new projects from the beginning
- Assessing and documenting the reuse potential of precast elements, such as hollow-core slabs
- Applying low-carbon concrete solutions and optimizing structural design to reduce material use
- Using testing, real data, AI, digital twins, and other digital tools to support better design decisions
- Strengthening collaboration between industry and academia to turn innovation into scalable practice
The question is becoming increasingly practical: are today’s structures designed and documented well enough to have value in tomorrow’s reuse market?
The question is no longer whether circular construction is needed. The real question is how quickly the industry can turn principles into everyday practice. For Peikko, these discussions support the ongoing work to deliver practical sustainability solutions that help customers build more efficiently, responsibly, and with future reuse in mind.
What’s coming up next? In our next issue, we will look at CBAM and its potential impact on the construction industry. As the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism enters into practice, imported materials such as steel, aluminum, and cement may face new reporting demands, cost pressures, and supply chain uncertainty. The direction is necessary: lower-carbon construction. But is the industry ready for the complexity of getting there?
Building with Less is Peikko's monthly look at smarter structural solutions for a sustainable built environment.
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