Unlocking value in buildings: developing the business case for building circular
Updated on 29.07.2025
This report presents a compelling argument for adopting circular approaches in the built environment, highlighting five strategic pathways that demonstrate how industry stakeholders can generate substantial, long-term value through circular economy principles. This report has looked at five different circular strategies, buildings and building components, predominantly but not solely from an asset owners’ perspective and sought to understand the associated value these strategies provide.
Relevance for Circular Systemic Solutions
This Arup/Ellen-MacArthur Foundation report focuses on the built environment. Its practical value for cities and regions lies in demonstrating a convincing financial case for circular building strategies, showing how they can reduce costs, boost asset value, unlock new revenue streams, and tackle embodied carbon, supporting local economic development alongside environmental priorities.
The report’s key insights (five enabling circular strategies spanning across supply chains) underscore how cities and regions can leverage policy, procurement, and investment tools to stimulate circular building practices, creating long-term resilience and systemic benefits. These findings are highly relevant at the design stage of a Circular Systemic Solution: they guide material selection, modularity, built-in adaptability, and lifecycle planning.
They’re also valuable during the mapping phase for stakeholder alignment and during implementation, via procurement strategies and performance monitoring.
built environment, CEAP2 key product value chain
e.g. chemicals, cosmetics, bio-based industries
e.g. re-use of public spaces and facilities in urban areas
e.g. electrical engineering, furniture and interior, textile and fashion
large 500 000-200 000, medium 200 000-50 000, and small cities 50 000-5 000
large metropolitan area >1.5 million, metropolitan area 1.5 million-500 000
predominantly urban regions, intermediate and predominantly rural regions, refer to TERCET typology NUTS 3 region
e.g. commercial, residential, service, industrial
