Great Portland Estates (GPE), which owns nearly £2bn-worth of property in central London, has set itself new circular economy targets in the form of a circularity score.
GPE is aiming to reduce the embodied carbon of its developments and refurbishments by 52% by 2030, and be net zero by 20240.
Minimising the quantity of virgin materials used in its construction and refurbishment projects is seen as part of the solution. It has already pioneered the re-use of steel from one of its deconstructed buildings into its scheme at 30 Duke Street in St. James’s.
From now on, GPE will assign a circularity score to its schemes, measuring the percentage of reused materials incorporated into its developments and major refurbishments. Schemes that start after 1st April 2025 will target a minimum circularity score of 40%, rising to 50% for those starting after 1st April 2030. The longer-term aspiration is to achieve greater than 60% circularity on all new schemes by 2040.
Circularity analysis will include both the quantity of materials that have been retained/reused as well as the proportion of any new material that is derived from recycled content.
The quantity of materials redistributed to the wider industry as a result of deconstruction is not included within the circularity score but will be measured separately.
GPE cited its developments at 2 Aldermanbury Square in the City and 30 Duke Street in St James’s as examples of what can be achieved. 1,700 tonnes of steel were identified for re-use from the original City Place House building at Aldermanbury Square before deconstruction and this steel is currently being repurposed for use at 30 Duke Street.
Once removed from site, the City Place House steel was tested, processed, re-certified and then stored until the Duke Street project was ready for it.
GPE Chief executive Toby Courtauld said: “Our new circularity score will challenge us to innovate further and faster than ever before as well as stimulating the growth of a deeper and better functioning market for reused materials. We also expect that our actions will encourage a more valuable and nuanced debate on what constitutes truly sustainable development rather than the currently polarised discussion around retrofit versus new build.”
Sustainability & social impact director Janine Cole added: “This is just the first stage of the process. We will regularly revisit our circularity score and intend to develop reuse targets for specific building components with the assistance of our supply chain circularity focus groups. We will use these secondary targets to reduce reliance on recycled content to achieve our targets. Further, we will publicly disclose our building scores for our onsite developments and methodology as part of our reporting obligations in May 2025.
“We firmly believe that measurement supports improved management and that early action to stimulate innovation in our marketplace is essential. We expect, as with embodied carbon, that consensus will emerge on the measurement of circularity and look forward to continued collaboration with the wider industry as we learn and progress.”
