Several Técnico researchers are involved in three projects aimed at promoting circular economy in the construction sector, selected by the Ministry of the Environment within the scope of the EEA Grants Environment programme. CERIS – Civil Engineering Research and Innovation for Sustainability leads the C+D project and participates in the CirMat project. The CircularEcoBIM project involves a research team from the Center for Studies in Innovation, Technology and Development Policies (IN +), the Institute for Systems and Computer Engineering, Research and Development (INESC-ID) and also from CERIS. The three projects will receive more than 1M€ in funding.
José Dinis Silvestre, professor at the Department of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Geo-Resources (DECivil) and researcher at CERIS, leads the C+D project – “Close the loop by Disclosing the benefits of buildings’ deconstruction and materials re-use”, which received 49 thousand euros. The project includes a partnership with NORSUS (Norwegian Institute for Sustainability Research), and aims to create a web-based platform to calculate the economic and environmental benefits associated to the processes of deconstruction of buildings and of reuse of construction and demolition wastes. The Técnico team also involves the CERIS researchers Manuel Duarte Pinheiro, Vera Durão and Imtiaz Ahmed.
Professor José Dinis Silvestre also leads the CERIS ‘participation in the CirMat project – “CIRcular aggregates for sustainable road and building MATerials”. The CERIS team also includes the researchers Jorge de Brito, Vera Durão and Bruno Nunes. The CirMat project aims to develop the industrial sector and to promote multiple products / materials with a high degree of incorporation of waste from the construction and steel industry sectors. The project is coordinated by the construction company dst s.a, and includes a partnership with University of Minho and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). The CirMat project received 499 thousand euros.
The Circular EcoBIM project aims to create a BIM standard type Product Data template, i.e., a data structure for BIM objects, and a set of applications that allow the calculation of building and component circularity passports, integration and development of product EPD and the calculation of LEVEL(S) system indicators for buildings from building models, thus contributing to the implementation of circularity practices in construction. The project is coordinated by 3drivers, and involves the participation of Instituto Superior Técnico, CentralBIM, Atelier dos Remédios, PotentialSketch, VIC Properties group, and NTNU. António Aguiar Costa, professor at DECivil and researcher at CERIS, leads the Técnico’s participation in this project. The Técnico professors Amílcar Arantes, José Dinis Silvestre and Teresa Ferreira (CERIS), Paulo Ferrão (IN +) and Paulo Carreira ( INESC-ID) are also part of the team.
Through the EEA Grants, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway established the objective of reducing social and economic disparities in Europe by strengthening bilateral relations with the Beneficiary States. Portugal will benefit from an amount of 102,7M€. This amount will support five programmes: Blue Growth; Environment; Conciliation and Gender Equality; Culture; Active Citizens. In addition to these five programmes, it also exists the Fund for Bilateral Relations. This fund supports initiatives aimed at strengthening the relations between Portugal and Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.
