BUILD UP is hosting the third webinar, part of a series of six webinars organised with the COST Action project on ‘Stakeholder Webinar Series – Investors, Developers, and Insurance Providers’.

The upcoming webinar will focus on Investors, Developers, and Insurance Providers, shedding light on successful projects and the challenges they face while implementing circular principles in the construction sector. The construction industry’s shift towards sustainable practices, innovation in materials, and digitalisation significantly mitigates the impacts of property development on the environment.

The first presentation will address the challenges and opportunities in developing sustainable and circular projects, with a focus on delivering cost-effective, sustainable, and circular homes. Francisco Rocha Antunes, the CEO of MOME, will discuss their efforts in promoting, designing, and constructing new residential areas, mixed-use buildings, and urban renewal initiatives. MOME's approach centres on placing people and the planet at the heart of their solutions, aiming to transform communities towards sustainable urban living. Key design principles include maximizing solar exposure, employing sustainable construction processes, using appropriate equipment and materials, and ensuring the interaction between interior and exterior areas to enhance energy efficiency and comfort. Integrating Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) principles is also a feature of their housing projects. Despite these efforts, there are legal, technical, and market barriers to adopting more circular solutions in building development in Portugal that will be further discussed.

Challenges of transitioning to sustainable construction models

The second presentation aims to shed light on the positive impacts of sustainable practices in construction and real estate development. The examination of the MITH project demonstrates the ability of innovative approaches to bring about a decrease in carbon emissions, and a boost in social welfare and economic growth. The presentation will delve into the challenges of transitioning to sustainable models and offer strategies for overcoming these obstacles. Attendees will gain insights into the reality of sustainable real estate development, understanding that it is not a distant future concept but a current, actionable strategy. The session will inspire industry professionals to adopt sustainable practices, showcasing how they can be applied to enhance efficiency, profitability, and environmental stewardship in real estate projects.

The final presentation will focus on the significance of establishing insurance coverage for secondary construction materials to level the playing field between new and reclaimed materials. Concular, a recently established company for circular construction in Germany, has undertaken over 350 successful circular construction projects by implementing cutting-edge techniques and digital technologies that promote the recirculation of construction materials. Concular offers circularity assessments for existing buildings, using software and 3D scans to digitise and record the key data of all materials in the building. This data is used to create digital material passports, enabling materials to be reused in new life cycles. While insurance for reused materials has been managed on a case-by-case basis, Concular aims to streamline this process for larger projects and bridge the gap between insurance companies and project planners or developers.