Canada’s construction industry finds itself on the front lines of a set of challenges that make slogans like “Build, Baby, Build” look like a simplistic mantra from easier days. With accelerating climate change, mounting landfill shortages, unaffordable housing, labour shortfalls, stagnant productivity, and the threat of a hostile US trade partner all bearing down on the construction sector, the need for a fundamental rethink of how we build has never been more urgent.
At the forefront of this challenge, driving to accelerate multi-solving solutions, is the Circular Construction Innovation Hub or ‘the Hub’, a groundbreaking initiative by Circular Economy Leadership Canada (CELC). The Hub is a dynamic ecosystem designed to accelerate the adoption of circular strategies across the entire built environment value chain to help foster innovation and bolster resilience to tackle these interlinked and systemic problems.
Construction is one of the most resource intensive and wasteful sectors, representing a lost economic opportunity. The volume of construction waste sent to landfill in Canada per year is over 3.4 million tonnes (generating 1.8 million tonnes CO₂e per year), much of which still has value. Studies have shown that with some effort, the average diversion rate could jump from 16 percent to 75 percent or even 88 percent.
Concurrent with the waste problem, the construction industry’s productivity and the country’s overall material productivity have stagnated. While the construction industry faces a record-high vacancy rate and aging workforce, the industry has had zero productivity growth over the past forty years. If the construction sector had averaged just over a 1% productivity rate these last 40 years, it would have effectively wiped out the 80,000 vacancies currently crippling the industry seven times over!
Meanwhile on material productivity (i.e., the economic value generated per unit of material used), Canada continues to fall behind other countries. According to OECD data, Canada ranks near the bottom among OECD nations, with a material productivity level significantly lower than the OECD average.
Scaling the adoption of circular strategies and practices within the construction and real estate presents a solution that can help accelerate innovation and mitigate negative socio-economic problems.
A circular built environment emphasizes designing adaptive and modular new buildings, adapting existing structures to extend their life, and deconstructing and reusing material at end of life. Developers integrate prefabrication, modularity, and design for disassembly to minimize waste and enhance reuse through off-site manufacturing, cutting labour costs and increasing productivity. Material suppliers and builders explore reverse logistics, reuse, and industrial symbiosis to capture value from what would otherwise be waste, enhancing material productivity while cutting embodied carbon. Designers and builders use emerging tech such as digital twins, carbon accounting, and blockchain to enhance material traceability, while bolstering economic productivity. Land owners and strategic investors prioritize deconstruction and materials reuse, stimulating new marketplaces, creating green jobs, and building domestic value chains that reinforce local economies while driving decarbonization.
While related efforts exist globally to promote circularity in construction, the Hub distinguishes itself through a truly unique, national, systems-change model. This model was originally developed in a major CSA Group report published in collaboration with CELC, proposing a strategic framework for action by leading systems change experts. Currently, there’s no single, coordinated national initiative in Canada focused on accelerating the adoption of circular economy strategies and practices within Canada’s construction and real estate sector. The Hub fills this void with an innovative approach that combines:
This Hub’s approach is about more than just identifying problems; it’s about building solutions in partnership with those who will implement them.
The Hub offers significant value to companies across the construction and real estate value chain, including project developers, real estate owners, property managers, builders, contractors, material suppliers, and logistics providers. It provides support to build the business case for circular practices that increase long-term asset value, adaptability, and marketing potential.
At its core, the Hub is working with the construction and real estate sector to maximize material efficiency. This focus aims to enhance productivity in the industry, supporting pathways to develop cost-effective housing, build resilient supply chains, and foster investment-ready projects. By unlocking new value through circular practices, the Hub simultaneously generates crucial environmental co-benefits, including reducing waste and greenhouse gas emissions.
The Hub has received over 20 proposals and is in the process of selecting an initial cohort of projects demonstrating high potential for impact, scalability, and learning, with the goal of co-designing and co-delivering learning products with key implementation partners.
Crucially, the Hub brings a much-needed circularity lens to the affordable housing priority in Canada. It provides actionable strategies and solutions to minimize the environmental impacts from the rapid scale-up of housing, in terms of increased GHG emissions or economic costs due to inefficient processes and ‘wasted’ resources.
Recognizing that circular solutions must be cost-competitive and low-risk to scale, the Hub is actively working to identify strategies that can reduce both cost and environmental impact while delivering significant community benefits.
CELC’s Circular Construction Innovation Hub demonstrates the power of collaboration and innovation in addressing some of our most pressing environmental and economic challenges, paving the way for a more resilient, productive, and sustainable built environment in Canada.
Any company, government, or non-profit proposing projects aligned with circular construction objectives and willing to collaborate and share data is welcome to apply to be a project partner.
To find out more, check out the Hub’s webpage, download the overview deck or contact us to set up a call to discuss how your organization can help future proof the construction and real estate industry.
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