West Midlands’ Circular Economy Routemap

• Develop circular strategies and actions plan for major infrastructure projects and utility providers in the region.

• The West Midlands will see significant growth in the next thirty years including HS2 developments.

• Aligned with WMCA’s WM2041 programmes of work, supporting region-wide decarbonisation and sustainable lifestyles.

• The 2022 Commonwealth Games offer an opportunity to showcase low-carbon, circular infrastructure development.

• CO2 and cost savings.

• More efficient and sustainable resource use including water and energy.

• Develop a secondary material network to support virgin material substitution.

• Support investment in innovation including sustainable, circular materials.

• New jobs created.

• Supply chain resilience.

• WMCA’s Role: Enable and Influence. Lead on its own sites.
• Partners: HS2, Veolia, Biffa, Severn Trent Water, Energy Capital, Transport for the West Midlands, Zero Carbon Homes Task Force, Commonwealth Games Team, and The Construction Futures Research Centre.

• % of materials used that are circular.

• % of sustainable, circular materials used.

• Work with regional businesses to develop leading circular building systems, products and services and create a one-stop shop for circular buildings.

• To support circular processes in construction, new products and services specifically designed to support a circular economy need to be developed and readily available.

• Megatrends report highlighted the increasing demand for environmentally friendly products and services.

• CO2 savings.

• Reduce resource consumption and virgin material extraction.

• Opportunity to create a secondary raw material market place.

• Create new jobs and products/services that can be exported across the UK or globally.

• Increase resilience of local supply chains.

• WMCA’s Role: Enable and Influence.
• Partners: Construction product association, leading building material suppliers in the region, ARLI, existing business support programmes, Zero Carbon Homes Task Force, AMC Task Force, Tyseley Energy Park, and The Construction Futures Research Centre.

• Number of products/services brought to market.

• Number of circular buildings built.

• % of materials used that are circular.

• Launch a physical and virtual hub to recover
  and exchange materials, as well as share and incentivise circular design and processes.

• The CD&E sector is responsible for the largest consumer of resource and generation of waste, particularly sand. There is a serious shortage of sand in the UK and its current extraction is leading to environmental damages.

• Circular construction processes and design already encouraged by WMCA’s Zero Carbon Homes Charter and Routemap.

• The region is already promoting and piloting AMC- MMC Construction Methods, and is planning to build a Circular Construction Hub.

• Capture the value of waste generated in construction through reuse/recycling.

• Reduce resource consumption and extraction of virgin materials.

• CO2 savings and cost savings.

• Develop skills and jobs around circular design and construction, increasing the region’s competitiveness and resilience as well as creating new jobs.

• Potential to build more rapidly and meet housing demand.

• WMCA’s Role: Enable and Influence. Lead on its own sites.
• Partners: Existing WMCA teams and partners working on Zero Carbon Homes (ZCH) Routemap and the AMC Routemap including the ZCH and AMC Task Forces, Institute for Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering, Hadley Group’s MMC Hub, Marches Institute of Technology, Black Country Consortium, Tyseley Energy Park, leading developers

in the region (Urban Splash etc.), and The Construction Futures Research Centre.

• Tonnes of construction materials not going to landfill or incineration.

• Material consumption ratio compared
  to traditional building methods.

• Develop and implement circular approaches
  for refurbishing and repurposing commercial and residential properties, as well as public building, high streets and public spaces.

• Housing, building and wider infrastructure assets need significant retrofit to meet carbon goals.

• High streets and unused/vacant idle public spaces need to be rethought and rejuvenated post COVID-19 pandemic.

• There is a need to reduce the amount of physical and financial resources used for repurposing buildings and spaces.

• Contribution to localism and social value with new public spaces and rejuvenation of high streets.

• Create new spaces for local communities and businesses to flourish.

• CO2 savings including reduction in embodied carbon through the use of circular design and approaches.

• Reduce resource consumption and virgin material extraction.

• WMCA’s Role: Enable. Lead on its own site.
• Partners: Local authority constituent members, LEPs, Chambers of Commerce, local community groups, Energy Capital Smart Hub (RESO project) and The Construction Futures Research Centre.

• CO2 saved.

• Amount of material reused on site.

• Set up a facility and associated advisory services to unlock the development potential of brownfield sites of all sizes, and to ensure brownfield reclamation adopts a circular approach to site clean-up and clearance.

• Set up a facility and associated advisory services to unlock the development potential of brownfield sites of all sizes, and to ensure brownfield reclamation adopts a circular approach to site clean-up and clearance.

• West Midlands has a lot of brownfield sites. Smaller sites are harder to develop and new processes and incentives need to be developed.

• Wolverhampton is building a National Brownfield Institute which could serve as the proposed facility. These leading research institutions can ensure any proposed approaches remain sustainable and are not energy-intensive.

• Reduce resource consumption, including the amount of materials waste on brownfield sites.

• Ensure the highest value use of demolition and excavation waste.

• Reduce amount of soils and virgin materials imported.

• Design approaches to develop brownfield sites that save money through all phases of a project.

• WMCA’s Role: Enable and Influence. Lead on its own sites.
• Partners: Wolverhampton University, International Synergies, National Centre for Sustainable Construction and Circular Economy, National Brownfield Institute, Brownfield Research and Innovation Centre, local authority constituent members, leading developers in the region.

• Tonnes of soil treated and reused.

• Tonnes of secondary raw materials created,

• Hectares of land reclaimed.