BuildZero: transforming the UK's buildings for zero material extraction, zero carbon and zero waste

建筑和基础设施占英国碳排放量的30%以上，产生英国60%以上的废物，并消耗全球约50%的提取材料。迫切需要彻底变革，以实现可持续的建筑行业。循环经济（CE）是一个公认的将废物转化为资源，同时减少碳排放的机会。建筑工程旨在通过一系列策略，使材料尽可能保持最高价值，例如，首先优先考虑延长建筑物的使用寿命，然后直接在原地或其他地点重新使用建筑构件，然后再制造构件，最后回收材料以节约资源和避免处置。然而，CE与典型的建筑实践还有很大的距离。迄今为止的行动主要集中在单个建筑的一次性案例研究，或导致浪费的降级循环利用的回收目标，缺乏迫切需要的全国范围的、系统级的影响。BuildZero的愿景是通过利用CE来满足材料需求，消除材料提取和生产过程中的废物和碳排放，从而满足英国的空间需求，但不再依赖于新资源的开采。以这一雄心勃勃的最终目标为跳板，我们将探索跨多个尺度的节能解决方案，与我们高度参与的工业联盟共同确定、共同创造和共同交付，评估这一愿景在全国、地区和个别建筑方面的可实现程度，并确定零建筑愿景带来有利的社会、环境和经济成果的条件。这个新的知识库将提供一个平台，使这些解决方案能够大规模转化为实践，促进区域和国家政策，以刺激真正的变革。为了实现这一目标，我们将围绕四个主题开发一个跨学科的、多尺度的建筑和资源流动系统模型：主题1：系统的基线状态（包括社会态度、当前材料/建筑和立法之间的相互作用）如何限制朝着共同创造的愿景迈进？主题2：充分利用空间的解决方案能让我们在多大程度上实现这一愿景？主题3：充分利用材料，包括废弃资源，能让我们走多远？主题4：我们未来的需求和潜在的解决方案如何结合起来实现零建筑的未来？为了应对这些研究挑战，我们将使用工业生态学的方法来了解材料的库存和流动；从建筑，结构工程和材料科学，了解CE解决方案的技术潜力；从社会科学，了解社会态度和权衡；从经济学角度，了解潜在的电子产品商业模式。除了在每个基础领域进行新颖的研究外，我们还将投入大量资源与利益相关者合作，通过创建交互式预测/回顾工具、共同创建未来情景和确定催化变革所需的行动，综合研究建筑物的行政效益。示范项目将把研究应用于具体情况，产生早期影响。我们将建立一个关于如何以及何时实施CE战略的基本理解，调查经济可行性、社会包容性和零碳兼容性，并在多个地理和政策尺度上考虑这些问题。我们的研究计划将最终确定在不同时间框架内实现BuildZero愿景的途径，并共同制定10年研究路线图，概述实现BuildZero未来所需的剩余工作。

Buildings and infrastructure are responsible for over 30% of the UK's carbon emissions, produce over 60% of the UK's waste, and consume approximately 50% of all extracted materials globally. Radical change is urgently required to achieve a sustainable construction sector. The circular economy (CE) is a well-recognised opportunity to turn waste into resources while reducing carbon emissions. CE aims to keep materials at the highest value possible, via a hierarchy of strategies, e.g. first prioritising extending the lifetime of buildings, then reusing building elements directly in-situ or on another site, then remanufacturing elements, and finally recycling material to conserve resources and avoid disposal. However, CE is still far from typical construction practice. Action to date has largely focused on one-off case studies of individual buildings, or recycling targets leading to wasteful downcycling, and lacks the national-scale, systems-level impact that is so desperately needed.BuildZero's vision is one of a building stock that delivers the UK's space requirements but no longer relies on extraction of new resources, by leveraging the CE to meet materials needs, and eliminating both waste and carbon emissions from material extraction and production. Using this highly ambitious end goal as a springboard, we will explore CE solutions across multiple scales, identified, co-created and co-delivered with our highly engaged industrial consortium, assess the extent to which this vision is achievable nationally, regionally and in relation to individual buildings, and determine the conditions in which the BuildZero vision leads to favourable social, environmental, and economic outcomes. This new knowledge base will provide a platform to enable these solutions to be translated into practice at scale, catalysing regional and national policy to stimulate real change.To achieve this, we will develop an interdisciplinary, multi-scale systems model of buildings and resources flows, focused around four themes:Theme 1: How does the baseline state of the system, including the interplay between societal attitudes, current materials/buildings and legislation constrain moves towards a co-created vision?Theme 2: How far can solutions that make the best use of space take us towards this vision?Theme 3: How far can making the best use of materials, including waste resources, take us?Theme 4: How can our future needs & potential solutions combine to achieve a BuildZero future?To tackle these research challenges we will use methods from industrial ecology, to understand material stocks and flows; from architecture, structural engineering, and materials science, to understand the technical potential of CE solutions; from social sciences, to understand social attitudes and trade-offs; and from economics, to understand potential CE business models. As well as conducting novel research in each underpinning area, we will commit significant resources to working with stakeholders to synthesise findings on what a CE for buildings looks like, by creating interactive foresight/backcasting tools, co-creating future scenarios and identifying the actions needed to catalyse change. Demonstrator projects will apply research to specific contexts, generating early impact. We will build a fundamental understanding of how and when to implement CE strategies, investigating economic viability, social inclusivity, and zero-carbon compatibility, considering these across multiple geographical and policy scales. Our programme of research will culminate in the identification of pathways to achieve the BuildZero vision over different time frames, and a co-created 10 year research roadmap that outlines the remaining work required to deliver a BuildZero future.