CEE construction is getting into shape – and it’s circular

Poland and the CEE region are assimilating the idea of the circular economy and a more sustainable approach to construction.

“It’s a new paradigm and it’s changed the way of thinking about construction because we have to build for demolition, or disassembly,” said Agnieszka Sznyk, president of the board at Warsaw-based INNOWO (the Institute of Innovation and Responsible Development).

The new culture is to treat buildings as material banks, “to be easy to dismantle and easy to shift to another place or maybe to be easy to change the functionality of the building. We really have to look at the construction sector and the real estate market differently,” she added while talking to Real Asset Insight’s Richard Betts.

Changing attitudes is not an instant process, however.

“Of course, not everyone is ready for that. We are still in the old linear economy. That’s why the regulations are now in force to help us to change this way of thinking about construction and then the business model in the construction sector.”

The discussion is moving, helped by the EU’s CRD directive which will oblige the construction sector to collect and reuse construction waste.

“For sure the change is coming and the stakeholders in the sector are starting slowly to adjust to it. We have to look from a different, circular perspective and a circular business model.”