RELIANCE ON BUILDING CERTIFICATIONS AND CIRCULARITY INDICATORS

1.1. DESCRIPTION These are indicators or performance levels that quantify the building's compliance with environmental, social and economic standards; in the case of sustainability certification, these provide an indication of the building's primarily environmental impact, particularly in its use phase. The addition of circularity indices serves to focus attention on all phases of the building's life cycle and their impacts, particularly end-of-life practices. 1.2. RELEVANCE FOR CIRCULAR BUILDINGS Relying on certification bodies to quantify the sustainability and circularity of the building makes it possible, as in the case of LCA, on which most certification methods are based, to identify the phases and procedures of the life cycle that can be optimised to reduce the consumption of materials and resources, especially in the building's use phase. Furthermore, these certifications are important because they are also able to assess the effects that circular choices have on other spheres of sustainability, and in particular on the social sphere: in this way, Circular.buildings tangible demonstrations are obtained of the benefits in terms of the psycho-physical well-being of the user of these certified circular buildings. 1.3. INNOVATION ASPECTS Traditionally, these certifications were only focused on the sustainability of buildings, whereas it is now in the interest of the bodies themselves to integrate indicators into their evaluation systems that are able to give a true quantification of circularity. Their usefulness in the transition to a greener construction sector also lies in having provided design frameworks that designers can faithfully follow, even if they are not fully versed in circularity, in order to approach this paradigm in an easy manner. The change most needed now is the extension of interest in these certifications on the part of component manufacturers, designers and construction companies, in order to create a common and participatory momentum, creating an emulation effect, especially on the scale of small buildings and the residential sector.

2.1. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS - Obtaining certifications such as BREEAM, LEED, WELL that quantify the sustainability of the building - Calculation of indices such as Material Circularity Indicator (MCI) or other indicators in the literature (e.g. Gonzales Method) - Adherence to the guidelines provided on the websites of the main rating systems to ensure that all material selection and construction procedures are carried out in a manner consistent with what is required - Use of materials with environmental and EPD certifications - General compliance with identified best practices - Adherence to guidelines such as Level(s) - Use of techniques such as Material Flow Analysis to track material flows for the calculation of other indicators Circular.buildings

3.1. BENEFITS - Access to economic incentives calibrated to the degree of sustainability - Improved building performance in environmental terms - Reduced building running costs - Improved indoor well-being conditions for users - Increase in the value of buildings with certification - Quantification through some circularity indicators of the economic return, not only counting actual monetary savings, but also those related to impact reduction and gains from positive impacts - Emulation effect resulting from the increasing number of certified buildings in the design of new buildings and intervention in existing ones 3.2. COMPLEXITIES - Identification of the most representative circularity indices