Circularity in construction has stagnated for years – this is changing
The construction and real estate sector have long known what needs to be done to become more circular but has found it significantly harder to implement in practice. The reason is not a lack of ambition, but a system that for decades has favored linear flows: virgin materials in, long decision-making chains, and waste out. Materials have been relatively inexpensive, energy readily available, and the climate and resource costs externalized, meaning they have not been reflected in business calculations.
23 Oct 2026Buildings are also extremely complex systems. They consist of thousands of materials assembled over time, often without the traceability or documentation needed to enable reuse or functional recycling. As a result, when a building is renovated or demolished, decisions are often made quickly, locally, and with limited information, causing valuable material flows to be lost despite good intentions.
"If we are serious about circularity in the construction sector, we need to start making better decisions much earlier in the process," says Lars Nybom, Innovation Manager at Ragn-Sells.
It is only when resource scarcity, increasing climate requirements, new regulations, and technological maturity converge that circularity becomes feasible on a larger scale. What is needed are methods that connect technology, economics, and decision-making. It is in this transition that Ragn-Sells’ role in Reincarnate, an EU research and innovation project focused on circular construction, has become crucial.
With a total budget of six million euros, Reincarnate has brought together real estate, material producers, researchers, and technology companies from across Europe, as well as one partner from China. The project concluded in the spring of 2026 after several years of developing and testing solutions to enable more efficient circulation of materials between the built environment and industry.
Ragn-Sells has played a central role in the project, including the development of the Circular Value Flow Planning concept, a methodology that views buildings as resources. Through digital inventories, testing, traceability, and data analysis, detailed decision-support system is created to determine how materials can best be reused or recycled already during the planning phase.
"For us, Reincarnate provided an opportunity to demonstrate how innovation, digitalization, and collaboration can make circularity both tangible and commercially viable in the construction sector," says Lars Nybom.
The methodology has been tested and validated in three demonstrators: an ongoing construction project comparing different inventory methods; a complete circular flat glass value chain, from building to glass production at Saint-Gobain; and an AI-based solution for optimizing concrete recipes using recycled raw materials at Trollhättan Minerals. The results show how digital tools can shorten lead times, increase resource efficiency, and enable new circular business opportunities.
The next step is to bring these learnings closer to the market. Ragn-Sells is continuing to develop the concept through new collaborations and projects, including initiatives aligned with Reboost.
