Reusefully is managing a consortium of partners who were successful in receiving R&D funding in the latest series of Innovate UK bids. The project aims to help the social housing sector realise better circularity outcomes across the value chain, by provision of data to enable better decision making.

This involves the quick and easy estimation of the products and materials embedded in existing built assets and their reuse potential.  Whilst there has been some attention to circularity in the construction sector, there has been little work undertaken with the social housing sector, with lack of data and related measurement tools is commonly referenced as a key challenge; even though there is a long term interest in their assets.

There has also been little work on how circularity can be integrated into asset management decision making, which is largely driven by operational energy and cost needs and upgrading to meet carbon emissions targets. Thus, there is a real need for Pre-Demolition Environmental Assessment and Decision Making (PreaDeM) support via a user-friendly platform.

Our consortium partners are:

• Sustenic, the consultancy which provides support to housing and health professionals in their journey to deliver high quality and healthy buildings, whilst accelerating the drive to net zero carbon emissions.

• Cambridge Sustainable Design (CSD), which provides targeted design and assessment services focused on energy, carbon and waste reduction including pre-demolition audits.

• 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.