Step by step

How do you proceed?

STEP 1: Formulating an overall vision

At the start of a project in which you have circular ambitions, it is important to focus and concretise them. Circular construction is a broad concept that is not understood by everyone in the same way and can covers a lot of different aspects. To clarify this, the first step of this guidance tool consists of describing a clear vision of the project's circularity based on possible future scenarios for the building. It is important here to sufficiently take into account the project specific context and preconditions. In STEP 1, you are asked to briefly write out this vision. A few questions are also formulated to help you write a good vision text.

STEP 2: Setting general circular ambition

In this step, based on the circularity vision described earlier, an overall ambition level is put forward for each theme. This is done by assigning a percentage to each of the 4 themes as to indicate the extent to which you want to work on them. This provides a visual representation of the overall desired circular ambition level for each of the 4 main themes.

Each project has its own specific context and boundary conditions, it is therefore impossible to give maximum priority to each theme. In this step, the aim is to visualise in an approachable way the effort you want to make for each theme as to achieve a certain level of circularity.

STEP 3: Concrete selection of circular requirements per theme

In steps 3.1 to 3.4, you need to make a selection of what you want to include in your project and this per major theme. This is done by indicating each time with "yes" or "no" which circular requirements you want to consider. In this way, you make the desired circularity of your project more concrete.

A distinction is made between "MUST HAVES" and "EXTRA'S. The "MUST HAVES" are those circular aspects that are absolutely required when you want to include this aspect. In principle, they are therefore always important, regardless of the context or the building's initially envisaged function. The "EXTRAs" are additional requirements that can be included in order to go even further. They push the level of ambition further upwards. Taking into account the specific context and preconditions of the project, it is up to the user to assess which additional requirements can be included.

STEP 4: Adjust ambition levels per subject

In step 4, after going through the input forms, you get a calculation of the desired ambition levels per subject. Here you also check whether all "MUST HAVES" per theme have been selected. You also review whether your previously set ambition level per subject in step 2 matches the calculated ambition level in step 4. Are there big differences? Then you will have to adjust your overall ambition level (and thus also adjust time and resources accordingly) or adjust the selected requirements (select more or fewer requirements). By doing this exercise, you can check whether you have set realistic ambitions first and can make the necessary adjustments to arrive at a realistic story.

STEP 5: Dashboard of circular ambitions

Step 5 visualises the circular aspects for each sub-theme in the form of a dashboard. Based on this dashboard, you can generate a communication sheet that serves to communicate about the project's circular ambitions. It can be used in the tender, to compare solutions, or to check decisions during the design process. It serves as a guide to communicate with the construction partners involved about the desired circularity in the project.

STEP 6: Check if circular ambitions were achieved

As the project progresses, the extent to which the circular requirements were achieved can be checked. This is done by indicating in tabs 1.a to 4 in the "check" column for each criterion whether it was achieved (put "yes" or "no"). Sometimes there are external factors that determine whether certain things can be implemented or not. To indicate this, space is provided for comments/lessons learned/points for improvement. The results of this evaluation are visualised in a dashboard, more specificly in the tab "CHECK". This exercise provides an opportunity to reflect on why the result deviates from the ambitions you set before. It can help you to make better assessments towards the feasibility of ambitions in future projects.