The social housing sector is being invited to contribute to a project that aims to improve circularity and reduce carbon in the refurbishment of the UK’s housing stock.

PreaDeM (Pre-demolition environmental assessment and Decision-Making) is a one year research and development project supported by Innovate UK and led by circular economy consultancy Reusefully, working with partners Sustenic, Cambridge Sustainable Design and Salvo.

It aims to help the social housing sector realise better circularity outcomes across the value chain.  

The project will undertake a feasibility study to determine how to best measure the type and amount of materials, products and elements in UK housing types and how they can best be reused, or, if necessary, recycled at the end of their life. Currently this is undertaken through pre-refurbishment and pre-demolition audits, which can be time consuming and can often be ineffective in reducing carbon impact.

By developing an ‘automated bill of quantities’, better decisions can be made about the future of housing assets. This includes whether assets should be refurbished or demolished and the impact this will have in terms of the materials arising and the carbon impact of this balanced with operational energy savings.

The project partners are looking for expressions of interest from housing asset owners and managers, and all those involved in the delivery of housing stock refurbishment programmes.

They wish to canvass views on circular economy outcomes, and work with the sector to develop case studies of best practice. They also wish to look at the wider ecosystem of existing tools and legislation that could be corralled to achieve better outcomes.

There is more information on the project here and interested parties can register their interest by sending us a message using the CONTACT information above.

Notes for Editors

1.    The PreaDeM project is part-funded under Innovate UK, which is part of UK Research and Innovation, and investing up to £1 million in circular economy innovation projects through the UKRI National Interdisciplinary Circular Economy Research programme (NICER). The aim of NICER funding is to support feasibility studies, industrial research and experimental development that address the challenges of transitioning to a circular economy.

2.    PreaDeM is led by Reusefully Ltd, a circular economy research and consultancy organisation that specialises in the construction industry. Reusefully is working alongside partners Sustenic, an organisation focused on supporting housing and health professionals in the drive to net zero carbon, Cambridge Sustainable Design, who provide energy, carbon and waste reduction services, and Salvo, the architectural salvage hub that promotes reuse of materials from demolition with the aim of reducing the quantity of salvageable materials that end up in landfill.