Applicability and Potential of BREEAM’s Framework to Support Building Circularity Assessment in Taiwan

Abstract

Growing depletion of natural resources and ever-intensifying pollution of the environment has heightened the awareness for changes in our life and living. As an alternative to the traditional take-make-use-dispose production model, Circular Economy (CE), which focuses on recovering and regenerating products and materials, has been gathering interest. In particular, its application to the construction industry, which is responsible for a high percentage of global carbon emissions and resource consumption, is of both need and significance.

In Taiwan, the construction industry has been highlighted for the government-initiated CE transition. However, as elsewhere in the world, the construction industry has been slow in embracing circular principles and strategies. Among the challenges is the lack of an assessment metrics for gauging CE performance. Existing schemes for assessing building circularity are few. In 2018, the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) from the United Kingdom proposed a framework of circular indicators (BREEAM-C) on the basis of its original green building certification scheme (BREEAM-G).

This thesis is an in-depth analysis of BREEAM-C on its applicability and potential for adoption in Taiwan to assess building circularity and to promote circular construction. Methods applied include literature review, cross-case analysis and collecting expert opinions using semi-structured interviews.

The analysis involves scrutinising whether the indicators are rooted in CE principles, are realizable through circular strategies, cover well different impact areas, structural layers and life-cycle stages of buildings, and can recognise circular building practices implemented. The applicability of BREEAM-C in real-life contexts is further examined using two circular building projects, Venlo City Hall of the Netherlands and TaiSugar’s Circular Village of Taiwan. The cross-case analysis also serves to identify BREEAM-C’s strengths, inadequacies as well as room for improvement.

Results showed that BREEAM-C is applicable, practical and can be adopted for building circularity assessment in Taiwan though not without adaptation or localisation considering different concerns with respect to climate and safety. Green building rating schemes, which have been widely adopted in the past decades offer an excellent platform for developing equivalent assessment schemes for circular buildings. In particular, for practitioners and stakeholders in Taiwan, using its own green building certification system, Ecology, Energy saving, Waste reduction and Health, as the basis would make new building circularity assessment scheme to be introduced, accepted and followed easier, which in turn would facilitate the promotion of circular construction.