This Demonstrator takes inspiration from Norway’s historic use of timber as a construction material. The project looks to pilot the multi-cycle reuse of structural wood elements to create temporary commercial constructions, utilising approximately 4.5 million tonnes of reclaimed wood from an estimated 0.5 million empty barns nationwide. The multi-cycle reuse of structural wood elements is currently very limited throughout Norway and Europe.

Attending to the structural layer of buildings, this Demonstrator tackles two materials which can have the largest environmental impact within the built environment life cycle: cement and steel. With no established ecosystem for the disassembly and reuse of structural steel elements, this Demonstrator looks to implement and prove the feasibility of such a system. As well as this, this project aims to repurpose white slag (a by-product from the secondary steelmaking process) via its application as a supplementary material within concrete.

Addressing the ‘skin’ layer of buildings, this Demonstrator will focus on developing a circular External Thermal Insulation Composite System (ETICS), designed to improve the energy efficiency of both new and existing buildings. This external wall insulation system is typically fabricated from many different layers, of which the materials and components cannot currently be reused or recycled.

Using circular principles, this Demonstrator will address the low energy performance of buildings via deep energy retrofits and renovation to their skin and service layers. 82% of dwellings in Estonia have low energy performance, with no current ecosystem to provide the multicycle development and application of prefabricated façade elements that would facilitate such deep energy retrofits.

This Demonstrator aims to prove the potential for the reusability of interior space plan products, such as ceiling tiles and partition walls, without an increase in price or labour time, within the context of an office retrofit. The reuse of modular office partition walls and ceilings is in its infancy in France and Europe; these products are currently incinerated with energy recovery or landfilled at the end of their lifespan.