Circular Economy in Construction Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Sustainability Managers, Project Managers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 7 Nov 2026 Course code SD-SC-035

Before you join: Participants should have working familiarity with construction project stages, common building materials and the roles of designers, contractors, suppliers and clients.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Construction projects are commonly planned around a linear model: extract materials, build, maintain, demolish and dispose. This approach creates avoidable waste, exposes projects to material price volatility, leaves valuable components unrecovered and increases embodied carbon. Clients, regulators, investors and asset owners increasingly expect project teams to retain existing structures, specify reusable materials, design for disassembly and demonstrate credible whole-life environmental performance.

This course explains how circular economy principles change decisions from feasibility through design, procurement, construction, handover and end-of-use. Participants assess material flows, identify retention and reuse opportunities, apply design-for-disassembly principles, specify secondary materials and plan deconstruction rather than demolition. They examine material passports, whole-life carbon assessment, circular procurement, reverse logistics, take-back arrangements and business models based on product service, leasing and residual value. The course also addresses the practical constraints that determine whether circular proposals succeed: warranties, traceability, quality assurance, contracts, storage, insurance, programme pressures and supplier capacity.

Teaching combines focused instructor briefings with built-environment cases, team analysis of project evidence, procurement and design scenarios, facilitated discussions and structured application planning. Cases reflect common challenges in commercial property, public buildings, infrastructure, housing and industrial facilities. Participants leave with a circular construction implementation pack containing a material opportunity assessment, procurement criteria, circularity metrics, deconstruction checklist and project action plan. The course suits professionals who influence building and infrastructure decisions and need to turn circular economy commitments into defined requirements, specifications, controls and measurable results.

What you will be able to do

  • Assess construction material flows using circular economy principles and material stock analysis
  • Apply ISO 20887 principles to design buildings for adaptability and disassembly
  • Evaluate reclaimed and secondary materials against technical, traceability and specification requirements
  • Calculate circular design trade-offs using whole-life carbon and life-cycle costing scenarios
  • Draft circular procurement criteria, contract clauses and supplier evaluation questions
  • Plan site controls for waste prevention, material segregation, salvage and reverse logistics
  • Develop deconstruction strategies using pre-demolition audits, condition grading and recovery routes
  • Produce a project circularity implementation plan with indicators, responsibilities and evidence gates

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Ability to identify retention, reuse and recovery opportunities during project reviews
  • Confidence specifying disassembly, material passports and secondary material requirements
  • Practical criteria for challenging unsupported circularity and recycled-content claims
  • Stronger input to whole-life carbon, cost and procurement decisions
  • A documented action plan for applying circular methods on live projects

For your organisation

  • Reduced material waste and disposal exposure through prevention, reuse and recovery controls
  • Better evidence for embodied carbon, circularity and sustainable procurement reporting
  • Earlier identification of reuse opportunities before design freeze and tender issue
  • Clearer supplier obligations for traceability, take-back, warranties and reverse logistics
  • Improved asset value retention through adaptable design and planned component recovery

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can map linear material flows and identify circular intervention points across a construction project.

  • Linear take-make-waste flows mapped against construction value-chain decision points
  • Butterfly Diagram cycles distinguished for technical and biological construction materials
  • 9R framework used to prioritise refuse, reduce, reuse, repair strategies
  • Material stocks, flows and embedded impacts identified at asset scale
  • Stakeholder incentives compared across clients, designers, contractors, manufacturers and operators
  • Systems mapping reveals feedback loops, lock-ins and unintended material consequences
  • Circularity hierarchy aligned with carbon, cost, resilience and social value

Participants can translate circular design principles into requirements for adaptable and disassemblable assets.

  • ISO 20887 design for disassembly principles translated into project requirements
  • Layered building systems separate structure, skin, services, space plan and stuff
  • Design for adaptability considers spans, grids, floor loading and servicing
  • Reversible connections specified through bolted, screwed and dry-assembled details
  • Modular coordination reduces cutting waste and supports component interchangeability
  • Design reviews test future access, replacement, recovery and remanufacture routes
  • Material passports define identity, composition, location, condition and recovery value

Participants can assess reclaimed and secondary materials for project use and evidence their suitability.

  • Material inventory records quantities, grades, contaminants, provenance and ownership
  • Reclaimed material suitability assessed through visual, dimensional and laboratory checks
  • Secondary aggregates, recycled steel and reused timber evaluated against specifications
  • Environmental Product Declarations interpreted for product-stage carbon and circularity evidence
  • Substance screening identifies hazardous materials that restrict reuse and recycling
  • Chain-of-custody documentation preserves traceability for reclaimed structural components
  • Supplier engagement tests availability, lead times, warranties and take-back terms

Participants can compare circular options using whole-life carbon, cost and recovery-value evidence.

  • EN 15978 life-cycle stages linked to circular design decisions
  • Whole-life carbon calculations distinguish upfront, operational and end-of-life modules
  • Scenario modelling compares retention, refurbishment, replacement and demolition options
  • Functional units and reference study periods set comparable assessment boundaries
  • Embodied carbon tools expose trade-offs between recycled content and durability
  • Carbon claims checked against baselines, data quality and declared assumptions
  • Life-cycle costing captures maintenance, recovery revenue and residual-value assumptions

Participants can prepare procurement requirements that support material reuse, traceability and take-back.

  • Employer's requirements embed reuse targets, disassembly criteria and material data
  • Specifications balance performance requirements with pathways for secondary materials
  • Prequalification questions assess suppliers' recovery capacity, traceability and reverse logistics
  • Contract clauses assign ownership, warranties, storage risk and take-back responsibilities
  • Product-service systems compare leasing, buy-back and performance-based arrangements
  • Evaluation matrices weight carbon, circularity, price, quality and delivery risk
  • Early market engagement validates reclaimed material supply before tender issue

Participants can establish site controls that prevent waste and protect reusable materials.

  • Site waste management plans separate prevention, reuse, recycling and disposal controls
  • Construction logistics plans reduce packaging, over-ordering, damage and double handling
  • Just-in-time delivery coordinated with protected storage for reusable components
  • Take-off accuracy and standard dimensions prevent offcuts and surplus ordering
  • Segregation systems label material streams, contamination risks and collection points
  • Digital records track installed products, waste movements and recovered quantities
  • Subcontractor briefings assign responsibilities for salvage, handling and reporting

Participants can plan controlled deconstruction and route recovered components to appropriate uses.

  • Pre-demolition audits catalogue components, hazardous materials, quantities and reuse potential
  • Salvage sequence protects high-value elements before destructive demolition activities
  • Method statements address temporary works, lifting, access and component protection
  • Condition grading determines direct reuse, refurbishment, recycling or disposal routes
  • Testing evidence supports structural reuse decisions and insurer discussions
  • Reverse logistics plans schedule dismantling, storage, transport and redistribution
  • Recovery yields measured against audit forecasts and project diversion targets

Participants can build a financial case for circular construction measures and manage associated risks.

  • Circular business models compare product ownership, service contracts and material banks
  • Residual-value models estimate future recovery income under different condition scenarios
  • Total cost of ownership accounts for maintenance, replacement and end-of-use
  • Financial cases incorporate avoided disposal, carbon pricing and procurement premiums
  • Risk registers address supply variability, quality assurance, liability and insurance
  • Value-sharing mechanisms align client, contractor, manufacturer and asset operator incentives
  • Funding criteria connect circular measures with green finance reporting requirements

Participants can define circularity indicators, collect credible evidence and report project performance.

  • Project circularity indicators define baselines, targets, units, sources and owners
  • Material Circularity Indicator measures restorative material flows and utility
  • Key performance dashboards report reuse rates, waste intensity and recovery value
  • Building information models structure asset data for future material passports
  • Data governance sets validation rules, version control and evidence retention
  • Supplier declarations checked for recycled content, recyclability and end-of-life claims
  • Post-occupancy feedback tests adaptability, maintenance access and component replacement

Participants can produce a practical plan for embedding circular measures into a live project.

  • Circular opportunity assessment ranks interventions by impact, feasibility, cost and ownership
  • Project roadmaps sequence design, procurement, construction and handover actions
  • RACI matrices allocate accountabilities across client, consultant, contractor and operator
  • Pilot selection balances material volume, risk exposure, learning value and timing
  • Change-control procedures protect circular requirements through design and scope revisions
  • Implementation plans set milestones, evidence gates, resources and escalation routes
  • Personal action plans identify one live-project intervention and first stakeholder conversation

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Circular construction opportunity assessment template
  2. Design-for-disassembly requirements checklist
  3. Reclaimed material evaluation matrix
  4. Circular procurement and contract clause checklist
  5. Deconstruction and salvage planning checklist
  6. Project circularity implementation plan

Who should attend

  • Sustainability Managers — need to convert circular commitments into project controls and metrics
  • Project Managers — need to manage circular requirements through delivery decisions and suppliers
  • Architects and Designers — need to specify adaptable, disassemblable and reusable building elements
  • Procurement Managers — need to source secondary materials and set circular contract requirements
  • Construction Managers — need to control site waste, salvage, storage and material recovery
  • Asset and Facilities Managers — need to plan adaptable assets and retain future material value

Skills and tools covered

Circular design strategiesMaterial reuse assessmentWhole-life carbonCircular procurementDeconstruction planningCircularity measurement

Tools and standards

ISO 20887, EN 15978, Material Circularity Indicator, RICS Whole Life Carbon Assessment Standard

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to introduce methods, standards and decision points, followed by built-environment case work and facilitated group analysis. Participants examine material inventories, design details, procurement documents, carbon scenarios and end-of-use plans. Simulations address competing cost, programme, quality and recovery priorities among clients, designers, contractors and suppliers. Structured application planning helps participants translate course methods into requirements, controls and reporting for a current or anticipated project.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have working familiarity with construction project stages, common building materials and the roles of designers, contractors, suppliers and clients. Experience on building, infrastructure, refurbishment, demolition, procurement, sustainability or asset-management projects is helpful. Participants should be able to read basic specifications, drawings, bills of quantities or project reports. Prior study of circular economy, life-cycle assessment, carbon accounting or environmental standards is not required. The course explains the relevant concepts and applies them to practical construction decisions.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

Participants need familiarity with construction projects, materials and the main roles in project delivery. Prior knowledge of circular economy, life-cycle assessment or carbon accounting is not required.

Participants may bring a current project brief, specification, material schedule, sustainability target or procurement document if organisational rules permit. These materials can inform their application planning, but they are not required.

The course is suited to professionals involved in construction, refurbishment, demolition, procurement, sustainability or asset management. It is particularly relevant where participants influence design requirements, material selection, tendering or project controls.

This course focuses specifically on retaining material value through design, procurement, construction, deconstruction and recovery. Carbon is addressed as one decision factor alongside material traceability, quality, contractual risk, logistics and residual value.

Participants can use the opportunity assessment to identify retention, reuse and recovery measures on an active project. They can also introduce circular requirements into design reviews, specifications, supplier questions, waste plans and end-of-use planning.

The five days contain ten teaching modules, each focused on a defined part of the construction life cycle. Sessions run from 08:30 to 16:30 and combine instruction, case analysis, group work, simulations and application planning.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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