Circular? Sustainable? What is that?

As many of you are already noticing daily, the word circular is apparently becoming a magic word. What exactly is circular? When we enter this word on the Internet, a load of opinions come rolling out that it remains to be seen if it is the right description. So too with sustainability. These terms are often used interchangeably, which in itself is nothing special. Just ask a colleague or acquaintance what they think of it and you will be surprised by the different answers. It will be a challenge in this article to give validation to the magic words. 

When paper and practice meet, you quickly see where the different perceptions arise. Paper is the easiest, where various guidelines from renowned institutes such as CROW but also knowledge from universities and colleges help you well on your way. The force field arises when the documents undergo elaboration in practice, read practical application. Politics also plays a role here: think of messages from The Hague in the form of "off the gas", for example. 

A visionary outlook is needed
If you then descend to the "shop floor," you see the real complication. Many municipalities already have plans that are at an advanced stage and have already been preceded by a series of decisions. You don't simply reverse or reverse that. So it requires us to have a visionary outlook for the coming years in order to give adequate substance to political "wishes" but also to the Paris Agreement. In the Netherlands we now have many Green Deals, one of which is very explicitly intended for the GWW sector. This Green Deal 2.0 SustainableGWW may seem non-committal, but it certainly is not. By 2021, the entire civil engineering sector must be sustainable! When you then see that the main parties such as the Department of Public Works, but also all provinces and sector organizations have signed up to it, time is pressing. All these works must also be put on the market and then also circular and sustainable where possible. At the moment you see that many are still struggling with this. 

There is a huge need for exemplary projects. Fortunately, several projects are already available. On the websites of sustainablegww.co.uk but also on Outdoor space.info you come a long way. 

A clear practical example
How does the circular and sustainable approach actually emerge. To make that visible, we chose a civil engineering project with a climate objective, in the municipality of Alkmaar. After an initial exercise on the Frederik Hendrikplantsoen, we largely followed the route from the project idea as indicated by the Approach to Sustainable Construction. Following this approach creates a natural environment in which the many aspects of an inner-city sewer replacement project and open paving are given full scope. The Emmakwartier is a residential area in the center of Alkmaar with large and small homes, businesses and schools.

The Emma Quarter has a lot of car and bicycle traffic and a mixed composition of residents. This requires a lot of organizational talent from the client in the first step. Stadswerk 072, as an engineering firm commissioned by the municipality of Alkmaar, has taken on this task. It is good to know that in the meantime, in the background, a covenant had been signed with the municipality of Alkmaar, MKB-Infra and a number of civil engineering contractors. Among other things, this covenant makes it easy to incorporate various opportunities for market consultation at different times. Stadswerk 072, as one of the parties involved, has made smart use of this. The aim of this type of covenant is also to share knowledge and experiences gained, so that future projects can be tackled more professionally in terms of finances, but also in terms of circularity and sustainability. This is how we entered the Emma Quarter. 

Creating and facilitating engagement
Following the approach, these consultations began with stakeholders, and they were not just the public transit operators. You could say literally everyone who has a role in some way in this neighborhood. The residents were number one and this approach resulted in a solid neighborhood representation with a motley collection of knowledge and expertise. As an example, here we mention a landscape architect. She lives and works in this neighborhood and was able to translate our "nuts and bolts" messages well to her constituents. This brought the parties closer together and a lot of project miscommunication was avoided.

It is a myth that circular and sustainable working would increase costs and this shows in practice. The Green Deal 2.0 DGWW has transitions such as that "from cost to value." Value increase also shows itself in an improved living environment where residents are happier. It thus also touches other domains within a municipality such as the social domain. The pressure on this domain can decrease with a cross-domain approach, but that is still very difficult for many organizations. 

Cost reduction through good design and collaboration
In fact, good design and collaboration work to reduce costs, along with good specifications in execution. Similarly, you can see that many municipalities are once again storing building materials themselves, thus literally doing their bit for the circular movement. Of course that brings costs, but here too we see savings that turn into profit in the long run. 

Politicians also have a role to play by becoming more aware of the issues surrounding the ambitions. Examples of this are, for example, that an administrator/ alderman consults with parties in the preliminary phase of the idea phase with the aid of tools such as the Ambition Web and/or the Omgevingswijzer. This ensures that real questions arise with better matching financial pictures. In this way, wishes and realization come into their own and residents feel that they are taken seriously. The conclusion is that working circularly and sustainably is simply a matter of doing.