In 2022, UKGBC launched the System Enablers for a Circular Economy report, which highlighted secondary materials markets as one of the eight key enablers to the circular economy. A secondary materials market was defined as a marketplace for materials and construction products that had a previous life and are easy to procure from. These marketplaces help overcome these barriers to material reuse:

• Limited availability of secondary materials
• Limitations on storage of secondary materials
• Difficulties in the procurement of secondary materials
• Risk being pushed onto contractors

Secondary materials marketplaces seem to fall into either physical or digital marketplaces. Physical reuse hubs provide storage, spaces for materials to be tested, certified and physically inspected, enabling wider use of reclaimed materials.�� Equally, digital platforms can provide key documentation or materials passports , and allow materials to be uploaded and collection time-matched between projects.

 

 

barriers to delivery and implementation, and risk, insurance and warranty, makes secondary materials more difficult to use on projects compared to new materials.”

Procuring reused materials from physical or digital marketplaces is not common practice and something that the supply chain is not used to. This means they often face barriers to scaling successfully, as often seen with innovative solutions. The Scaling Sustainable Solutions for the Built Environment: Barriers & Enablers report highlighted that these barriers are often systemic rather than technical. However, many new pilots and initiatives aim to tackle these barriers, hopefully enabling material reuse to scale and become part of business as usual.

One example is tackling the challenge of time-matching materials between projects. The in London has been bringing project teams together, looking at where timelines are complementary, enabling materials to be reclaimed from one project and used on another. During this process, the physical inspections of materials have been an important consideration to ensure they are able to be used on the recipient project.

The lack of storage for secondary materials has also been a barrier to scaling material reuse. There are a few reuse hubs across the UK, such as in Carlisle, and more are opening across the country. The is trialling a circular construction hub in the Scottish Central Lowlands region, aiming to cover several cities and rural areas. The has piloted a reuse hub specifically focused on suspended ceilings and luminaries. In London, , who use circular practices as a materials-first approach to designing and building, have been founders alongside and to open in Newham. This meanwhile-use site is planning to expand to cover more of the site over the next five years, looking at the testing and refurbishing of materials to enable them to be reused. They are looking at materials which do not already have a defined route and experimenting with packaging up materials to enable design within constraints.

Collaboration and engagement with the supply chain have consistently appeared as key enablers for delivery material reuse and trialling innovative approaches. Engagement with the design team and supply chain to communicate why this matters for the project can help ensure the material reuse is achieved. Equally, having conversations early allows for identification and mitigation of risks, enabling stakeholders to be bought into the approach. Anecdotally, talking to people to understand why processes are done one way and if they can be approached differently can lead to positive results. Engagement across the sectors is also important to enable marketplaces to scale and create space for collaboration, as demonstrated through a recent

Collaboration and engagement with the supply chain have consistently appeared as key enablers.”

The expansion of reuse hubs and platforms will help tackle part of the problem when reusing materials. However, understanding how to reclaim materials from buildings in a condition which enables them to be reused and working with the supply chain to ensure they have a route to be tested, certified and warrantied, can still be very material-dependent. It is also important to consider this when designing buildings now, to ensure they are designed for disassembly, enabling material reuse and recovery in the future.

System Enablers for a Circular Economy

A toolkit that examines the barriers to a circular economy, and presents eight key enablers…

Resource Use Technical Report

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Engaging the Supply Chain: A Practical Guide to Delivering Sustainability Outcomes

This guide is a practical starting point for anyone wishing to work with the supply chain to deliver positive transformational sustainability outcomes in the built environment.

Climate Change Mitigation Guidance

Circular Economy Implementation Packs for Products as a Service and Reuse

UKGBC has published implementation packs on reuse and Products as a Service to assist built environment projects adopt circular economy principles.

Climate Change Mitigation Resource Use Guidance

Resource Use

In the UK, construction, demolition and excavation account for 60% of material use and waste generation. Meanwhile, prices of construction materials in the UK rose by 4.9% between 2017 and 2018. Adopting circular economy principles offers a €1.8 trillion opportunity to the EU between 2015 and 2030.  ��

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Circular Economy

The built environment needs to move away from the linear economy and embrace circularity. This will reduce waste, carbon emissions and our impact on the natural world.

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23% of the UK’s built environment carbon emissions come from the energy used in non-domestic buildings. On average, this can be reduced by a quarter through optimisation actions. This guidance has been created to support greater reductions in the energy use and associated carbon emissions of operational non-domestic buildings.

Every organisation and building has its own unique characteristics and so there is no one size fits all answer for energy and carbon optimisation. However, based on case studies and the industry experience of the working group, this report outlines key steps for success and lists practical actions, which will be applicable to many buildings.

This guidance has been developed for anyone who is overseeing, creating or running an energy and carbon reduction strategy for a commercial building, estate or property portfolio. This is likely to include individuals in within the following roles: owners/landlords, occupiers/tenants, property managers/facilities managers, mechanical and electrical (M&E) and building management system (BMS) engineers, energy and carbon consultants, design and project teams.

Advancing Net Zero Partners

Our Advancing Net Zero work is made possible thanks to our programme partners

Project Partners of delivering net zero: practical actions for optimising energy use

Commercial Retrofit

Energy required to heat, power and operate commercial buildings accounts for nearly a quarter of the built environment’s carbon footprint in the UK. Significant improvements in energy efficiency must be accelerated across all sectors. To address this challenge, Ģ��ֱ�� working with a team of industry experts to accelerate the delivery of commercial retrofit programmes.

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Advancing Net Zero

Created in 2018 as part of a World Green Building Council former global Advancing Net Zero programme, UKGBC’s Advancing Net Zero programme has a mission to lead the UK’s transition to a net zero built environment. It has produced leading guidance such as the Net Zero Carbon Buildings Framework and the Net Zero Whole Life Carbon Roadmap, whilst working with organisations and experts across the industry.

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Why this report matters

Despite rapid innovation across materials, digital technologies, construction systems and business models, many solutions��remain��underutilised. Fragmented decision-making, risk-averse cultures, misaligned procurement��models��and limited access to scale-up finance continue to hold back progress.��

Without faster adoption, the industry risks higher long-term costs, missed opportunities, and slower progress towards net zero and more resilient places.��This report focuses on what needs to change to move from isolated innovation to system-wide implementation.��

Drawing on insights from a broad range of stakeholders, built environment practitioners and industry experts, the report identifies seven key themes that influence whether solutions scale: organisational readiness; adopter needs and solution; finance and business models; certification and verification; risk, insurance and warranties; delivery and implementation; outcomes and knowledge sharing.

Across these themes, the report sets out 77 actionable enablers to support organisations in accelerating adoption.��

Download the report here

Scaling Initiative Partners

Thank you to our Scaling Initiative Partners for their generous support:

Solutions & Innovation

The built environment is both a major contributor to the climate and ecological crises, and a key part of the solution. At UKGBC we recognise that the scale and urgency of these challenges cannot be address with business as usual, but radical transformation. This requires innovation in technology, business models and ways of operating, and ensuring these innovative solutions scale at the pace required.

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The Resource Use forum will explore circularity and material reuse, allowing members a space to share experiences of this and discuss ways to enable more circular construction projects. The forum session will look at core themes around supply chain, value, risk, and innovative approaches.

The first session will shape the programme for the remaining five sessions, identifying priority topics to explore in depth and giving members the opportunity to become a chair for the upcoming ones.

The forum will start 1^st June and run every 6 weeks, finishing next spring. By signing up to this first session, members will be enrolling for the whole duration of the forum.

We will host three special sessions on financial value, supply chain engagement and nature. Other members will be able to join these sessions as one-offs, depending on which topic is most interesting to them. Specific dates will be announced soon.

Who Should Sign Up?

The UKGBC Resource Use Forum is open to individuals from UKGBC member organisations who have demonstrable knowledge or practical experience in resource use and circular economy principles. Participants are expected to actively contribute to discussions by sharing insights, challenges, and best practices, while also representing their organisation’s work and perspective on the topic.

This forum is open to members with an interest in resource use. It will be particularly appealing to Building Developers, Building Owners, Building Systems Engineers (M+E), Architects, Structural Engineers, Asset Managers, Insurers, Contractors, Secondary Materials providers and Project Managers.

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The Embodied Ecological Impact Forum brings together organisations across the value chain to explore how decisions on materials and procurement can reduce ecological harm while enabling more efficient, joined up approaches to sustainability.

Join this UKGBC gathering to hear directly from forum members as they share key insights, case studies, ongoing challenges and early successes. This is a chance to learn what is working, what still needs to shift and contribute your perspective on what comes next.

Host

Macarena Cárdenas – Senior Advisor: Resilience and Nature, UKGBC

Agenda

• Welcome and context
• Ideas, case studies and progress from forum member organisations
• Open mic: a collective space for share ideas, questions and next steps
• Drinks and informal networking

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This webinar will launch a new Framework for a Nature-Positive Built Environment. Building on existing guidance and aligning to the global goal to halt and revers nature loss by 2030 (using a 2020 baseline), and to achieve full recovery by 2050, this Framework sets out the steps and actions for built environment stakeholders to implement across assets, infrastructure and within organisations.

During this session, we will provide an overview of the Framework’s content, share industry specialist perspectives, and highlight practical actions you can start taking now.

You will leave with a clear understanding of how this Framework can support the transition to a nature-positive built environment.

Who Should Attend?

• Design and Construction teams – Architects, urban planners, engineers, consultants, contractors.
• Supply Chain – Materials suppliers and product manufacturers.
• Developers, asset owners and managers, and occupiers.
• Policymakers – local authorities and national governments.

Speakers

• Chair – Yetunde Abdul, UKGBC Director of Industry Transformation
• Keynote Speaker – Dr Tony Juniper CBE, Natural England
• Project Lead – Macarena Cárdenas, UKGBC Senior Advisor: Resilience and Nature.

UKGBC cancellation and refund policy

Please see our website for more details on our cancellations and refunds: /ukgbc-cancellation-and-refund-policy/ 

Resilience & Nature Programme Partners

With thanks to our programme partners who make our work on nature possible.

PROJECT PARTNER

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Key trends highlighted in the report include:

Increased focus on resilience

This includes not only climate resilience, but social and financial resilience, shaping design, investment and operational priorities.

A move towards action

With more organisations entering the implementation phase of transition plans, exposing the gap between strategic ambition and the realities of delivery.

From values to value

Clients and investors are increasingly demanding proof of commercial, social and environmental returns, shifting the sustainability conversation from principles to performance.

Technology development

Rapid advances, particularly in AI, offer powerful tools for optimisation and decarbonisation, while introducing new energy, water and resource challenges.

Scaling-up

Innovation in materials, construction systems and digital platforms continues to expand, but adoption remains constrained by capacity, trust and fragmented markets.

Grid capacity and energy systems

Despite substantial national investment, local constraints and long connection queues persist. With growing battery storage and buildings acting as active energy assets, the built environment’s role in system flexibility continues to increase.

Yetunde Abdul, Director of Industry Transformation, UKGBC, said:

As a network that brings together innovators, practitioners and thought leaders from right across the built environment, Ģ��ֱ�� uniquely placed to spot the shifts shaping our sector. This report distils the insights we hear every day from our members, partners and industry who are working at the leading edge of delivery. We publish it each year to help industry navigate complexity and to shine a light on the solutions and approaches gaining real traction.“

Emily-Rose Garnett, Senior Advisor – Solutions & Innovation, UKGBC, said:

The insights in this report are grounded in what we’re hearing on the ground: organisations working out how to responsibly use technology and AI, scale retrofit, close performance gaps, rethink materials, engage supply chains and build climate resilience. It paints a picture of an industry that is working to transition from intent to action, but grappling with the challenges required to achieve this. As we enter 2026, our hope is that industry and government recognise the scale of the opportunity ahead, and the transformative impact we can unlock through collective action.” 

Solutions & Advisory

At UKGBC we take a collaborative approach to identify and showcase innovative solutions and support with their scaling and implementation.

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Access the Report by filling out the form below:

This report is intended as a signpost for industry to key developments and reflect what Ģ��ֱ�� hearing from industry and in research by others.�� While this is a summary of some of the notable trends, solutions and examples of which UKGBC has become aware, there are likely to be others that are not mentioned. UKGBC does not formally endorse any of the individual solutions listed.����

Solutions and Innovation

At UKGBC we take a collaborative approach to identify sustainability challenges across the built environment and help source and implement the solutions to them.

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Heavy industries such as steel and cement are among the UK’s most significant sources of industrial emissions, and decarbonising these sectors is essential if the UK is to meet its net zero by 2050 target.

Embodied carbon from construction materials alone accounts for around one in ten tonnes of the UK’s total greenhouse gas emissions by 2035. Yet there is currently no national regulation to reduce these emissions, despite strong industry support and the urgency of our climate commitments.

This consultation as a first step in developing the policy framework needed to grow the market for low carbon industrial products. UKGBC have used our response as an opportunity to support measures that will enable the construction sector to make informed, low-carbon choices, and accelerate the transition to a sustainable built environment.

Policy & Advocacy

Since 2007, we have been bringing together some of the most influential leaders in politics, business, local authorities, civil service and NGOs to accelerate action for a green built environment.

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Kemi Badenoch is completely wrong to make claims that doubling down on new oil and gas is the answer, or that net zero is ‘impossible’ and unaffordable when all the evidence shows the opposite.

This unfounded rhetoric is not only reckless for the climate it’s also the fastest way to lock households into higher bills and greater energy insecurity which is driven by our dependence on volatile global gas prices. Fossil fuels are the reason energy costs have soared, while renewables are now the cheapest source of power we have.

To burn more fossil fuels will lock in a future of worsening floods, deadly heatwaves, and wildfires which have scorched parts of Europe this year. To advocate for a policy which puts people’s homes, health and livelihoods in danger is wildly irresponsible.��

The path to genuine energy security, lower bills, warmer homes, and hundreds of thousands of quality new jobs is renewable energy, clean heating, and modern low-carbon industries.��

Delaying net zero and investment into renewables will be more expensive and more dangerous in the long run. What we need from opposition policies is leadership to accelerate investment into the industries of the future, championing the ground breaking business-led innovation that is taking place across the UK, not political point-scoring which takes us backwards.”����

Further Analysis from UKGBC’s Policy Team

The shift to clean energy isn’t a cost burden, it’s an enormous opportunity. Clean power and electrified heat and transport reduce dependence on volatile fossil fuel imports and carry long-term savings for households and communities. The CCC projects that by 2050 households could save £700 a year on heat and power. The International Energy Agency (IEA) likewise finds that a net-zero transition would make energy systems ‘more affordable and fairer’ with efficiency gains and lower fuel costs offsetting initial investment.��

While we recognise the seriousness of the cost-of-living challenges British households face, the premise that achieving net zero by 2050 is ‘impossible’, or that it will bankrupt the country, has been widely contradicted. Independent analysis from the Climate Change Committee (CCC) shows the UK can transition to net zero in a ‘credible and deliverable’ manner, with total upfront investment of less than £700 billion by 2050 – substantially lower than earlier estimates – and operational savings of around £600 billion.

The alternative of continuing to rely on fossil fuels, would be far worse. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has warned that unchecked climate change could cost the UK up to 8% of GDP by 2050, and beyond the economic costs continuing to burn fossil fuels would risk locking us into a future defined by more wildfires, deadly heatwaves, and pervasive flooding. This poses a significant threat to health and household stability. Choosing fossil fuel expansion over clean energy isn’t protection, it’s putting current and future communities in danger.��

As for high household bills, contrary to Badenoch’s suggestion that climate policies are the culprit, the evidence shows it’s our reliance on gas which is subject to global price swings that drives cost, not clean energy policy. The UK’s wholesale electricity prices are currently almost entirely dictated by the price of gas, which remains three times more expensive than before the global energy crisis. A UK renewables industry and increased clean supply would insulate households from volatile international gas markets.��

At the same time, rolling back net-zero commitments denies the UK a vital economic opportunity. The transition to low-carbon sectors could create between 135,000 and 725,000 new jobs by 2030 across retrofit construction, renewables, and energy efficiency measures. Yet persistent policy uncertainty are hampering growth, and causing the UK to miss out on healthy, future-ready industries.

For businesses and the built environment this delay and scepticism are deeply damaging. It undermines investment confidence, stalls innovation, and holds back one of the biggest economic opportunities of our time. The built environment industry urgently needs certainty, not political backtracking. The clean energy future is not some distant fantasy – it’s already underway, and it’s already delivering real value. Delaying the inevitable only exacts a higher price.

We urge the Conservative Party to reverse course on this damaging rhetoric and instead join us in delivering a fair, confident, and affordable trajectory to net zero. By investing in insulation, scaling up heat pumps with real incentives, and embedding market drivers like a reformed stamp duty that rewards energy-efficient homes, we can deliver warmer homes, lower bills, stronger energy security, and significant economic growth.��

Policy & Advocacy

Since 2007, we have been bringing together some of the most influential leaders in politics, business, local authorities, civil service and NGOs to accelerate action for a green built environment.

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