Reusing old buildings for circular construction

The construction sector has traditionally followed a linear path: build, use, demolish, discard. This approach is no longer sustainable. The built environment is responsible for about 40% of global CO₂ emissions, nearly one third of all waste and half of Europe’s resource use. To meet climate targets and create sustainable urban futures, cities must move towards circular construction by reusing what already exists instead of discarding it.

Challenge 

The project addresses the challenge of ineffective reuse of existing buildings and their parts. Although buildings contain durable and valuable components with high reuse potential, there is currently no standardized way to identify, recover and reallocate these materials. As a result, cities face increasing environmental impacts, economic costs, and regulatory pressures, while missing opportunities to advance innovation and circular economy practices. This matters because unmanaged construction and demolition waste contributes to resource depletion and greenhouse gas emissions, and undermines cities’ ability to build climate-resilient, sustainable urban environments.

Upgrading what already exists should be the preferred option to support the transition toward a circular economy in line with the 9R framework.

Solution 

The project develops the first standardized pre-demolition audit methodology to identify materials with reuse potential and provide guidance on how to recover and repurpose them. The collected data, including environmental and technical details required for the EU’s Digital Product Passport, will be uploaded to a digital platform.

This platform:

• enables transparent decision-making for builders and engineers,
• connects audit results to a material bank, creating a marketplace for reused construction components,
• helps overcome one of the key barriers to scaling circular construction.

The project aims to shift the mindset towards treating buildings as material banks by introducing circular construction practices and urban mining that maximize the reuse of building components. It develops a standardized auditing methodology, demonstrates economic and environmental benefits of reuse and creates a clear pathway for adopting circular construction practices across the Baltics and beyond.

Pilot cities 

The project is tested in several pilot cities, each focusing on local priorities:

• Tallinn, Estonia – Increasing material recovery rates, embedding circular construction into city planning and moving towards a zero-waste city.
• Valga, Estonia – Revitalizing vacant buildings, reducing demolition costs and fostering collaboration among citizens and businesses for a more sustainable local economy.
• Hundipea district, Tallinn, Estonia – Demonstrating how construction and demolition waste reuse can cut the carbon footprint of new developments and contribute to climate neutrality.
• Cēsis, Latvia – Applying systemic circular construction, educating communities and advancing sustainability mindsets in line with the European Green Deal.

Success will be measured by higher reuse and recycling rates, reduced waste, regulatory uptake of circular practices and long-term benefits for climate resilience, biodiversity and community wellbeing.

Want to get involved? 

The project invites real estate developers, construction companies and cities to collaborate with us during the development of the audit methodology and digital platform. Your feedback and insights are essential for creating tools that are practical, impactful and ready to use in different projects.

Duration of the pilot project: September 2025 – August 2028
Total budget: €1.2M (TalTech budget)

The implementation of pilot projects is funded by the European Regional Development Fund and the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research through the project “FinEst Targa Linna tippkeskuse piloodiprogramm“.