The Shareable Building: embracing the circular economy
Co-chairing a roundtable with industry experts, exploring how to scale meaningful material reuse across London’s built infrastructure.
Last month, Civic brought leaders from development, architecture and policy to our London studio to examine one of the sector’s most urgent challenges: how to scale meaningful material reuse.
Hosted by Gareth Atkinson, director in our London studio, and Leanne Tritton, co-founder of Don’t Waste Buildings, we explored the policy shifts, design approaches and behavioural changes needed to accelerate circularity across the built environment.
While the concept of the circular economy has traditionally been associated with fast fashion and furniture, its application to entire buildings is now emerging as a powerful strategy for sustainable development. Tactics for building reuse are gaining momentum in existing assets – but just as important are sustainable approaches to new-build, implementing future-thinking, adaptability and deconstruction strategies from the outset.
The conversation was framed around a central question: What does it mean to build less and share more?
Where policy meets practice: rethinking how we build
One of the recurring themes throughout the morning was the evolving role of policy. Nikolova Laxness noted that Westminster Council’s emerging retrofit first agenda is already reshaping early planning conversations, particularly in how public benefit and carbon impact are assessed. Even so, cultural resistance persists. We also discussed the complexity of material provenance, stressing the need for specialist expertise to trace components through a building’s lifecycle. Tools such as material passports are beginning to offer greater transparency, and there was broad agreement that buildings must be designed more simply to allow future dismantling and reuse, especially as aesthetic trends date quickly.
However, the group was forced to acknowledge an uncomfortable reality: not all buildings can be retrofitted without generating more carbon than demolition. This nuance is not always reflected in policy. Leanne Tritton noted that examples like Broadgate Tower show how even newer buildings can have surprisingly short lifespans. The discussion also touched on how future-proof buildings might be conceived to enable the reuse of major components, provided the industry can shift away from its reliance on bespoke solutions and towards approaches that support circularity at scale.
Retrofit first, not retrofit only
While we acknowledged that no single lever (whether policy, behaviour or market forces) can deliver circularity in isolation, there was a consensus that senior leaders across the board need a deeper understanding of building mechanics to accelerate decision making, and supply chain limitations, while real, should not be treated as immovable barriers. Ollie Cook highlighted that a simplification of design would be a practical way to enable future reuse, alongside points on recognising financial drivers as powerful motivators, and ensuring innovation is backed by enabling policy. John McRae called specifically for stronger collaboration and more active material sharing, from Cat A bulbs to large scale components, reinforced by the work of initiatives such as the End Cat A Waste taskforce.
Across policy, design and development, the roundtable underscored a shared message: material reuse is not purely a technical challenge. Progress depends on aligned behaviours, clearer financial signals and earlier, more collaborative decision making. The sector has the expertise and appetite to move faster. What it now needs are the frameworks and confidence to put circularity at the heart of development.
Many thanks to all attendees:
- Gareth Atkinson, Civic
- Leanne Tritton, Don’t Waste Buildings
- Ollie Cook, Civic
- Frederic Schwass, General Projects
- Hrabrina Nikolova-Laxness, Westminster Council
- Andrei Negrea, Gensler
- Ross Boulton, Landsec
- Dolunay Dogahan, CO-RE
- John McRae, Orms
- Anastasia Stella, Circuland
- Basil Demeroutis, FORE
