Sustainability and Circular Economy in the Construction Industry: An Overview

Hossein Omrany (), Daniel Oteng, Bridget T. B. Eshun () and Prince Antwi-Afari
Additional contact information
Hossein Omrany: The University of Adelaide, School of Architecture and Civil Engineering
Daniel Oteng: The University of Adelaide, School of Architecture and Civil Engineering
Bridget T. B. Eshun: Glasgow Caledonian University, Department of Construction and Surveying
Prince Antwi-Afari: The University of Adelaide, School of Architecture and Civil Engineering

Chapter Chapter 4 in Global Investment Decisions in the Circular Economy, 2025, pp 45-57 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract The construction industry is one of the largest consumers of natural resources and a major contributor to environmental degradation; thus, there has been a growing demand for enhancing sustainability in this sector. The traditional linear “take-make-dispose” approach prevalent in the industry has led to excessive material waste, high energy consumption, and significant carbon emissions. In response, the concept of the circular economy offers an impactful approach to minimising the industry’s environmental impacts and promoting greater resource efficiency. This chapter aims to provide an overview of how sustainability can be promoted in the construction industry through circular economy. To this end, several key innovative technologies that support circular construction are explored. Further, this chapter surveys global approaches to circular construction, discussing countries with pioneering initiatives in this regard and the policy lessons they offer. The findings indicate that integrating circularity into construction practices enables the industry to transition towards more sustainable, resilient, and low-carbon built environments.

Keywords: Construction sustainability; Circular economy; Resource efficiency; Waste reduction; Life cycle assessment; Green building practices; Sustainable construction (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:conchp:978-3-031-86236-6_4

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/9783031862366

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-86236-6_4

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Contributions to Economics from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().