With a share of around 8%, the building sector is one of the largest CO2 emitters and therefore contributes significantly to the acceleration of climate change. In order to protect the environment and thus the climate, one solution is for the entire construction industry to organise itself even more or even completely in cycles. This means that existing materials and products are shared, used, reused, repaired, refurbished and recycled for as long as possible in order to extend the life cycle of the products. But how can we as a society and as a company achieve this transformation?

Industrial production, as it has presented itself to us in recent decades, is a continuous flow heater. The focus is on maximising sales with the highest possible margins in a very short space of time. This linear system not only results in a waste of limited resources. It also means that we produce products of poor quality and the value of the materials decreases. What if we looked at the entire life cycle of materials? What if we no longer increased the sales of a product, but rather the number of users per product?

"Technically, almost anything is feasible. What we need are people who can explore what is feasible at the interface between sustainability and engineering," says Marcel Niederberg, Head of Sustainability at V-ZUG. And this requires new functions. We need people who are familiar with both engineering and sustainability. Both product development and business models need to be rethought. After all, the transformation and thus the systemic change must succeed at all levels. But this comes at a price. V-ZUG has implemented an internal CO2 fund for this purpose. The funds are distributed for innovative and resource-efficient project applications, such as the H2 fuel project in Zug, building refurbishment measures, the use of new materials and e-mobility.

"In Switzerland, we have an enormous advantage: we already have a very high willingness to produce high-quality appliances and components," says Barbara Buser, certified architect ETH and partner, baubüro in situ AG. This intrinsic motivation must be consciously cultivated, because quality is the key to a circular economy. But it doesn't help if we install durable components and then demolish the building. As long as education is characterised by building "on the green field", we will lack the creativity and expertise to create something new from what already exists. A building is not an isolated structure, but an element of a comprehensive ecological and social cycle.

The hurdle is huge, at least in people's minds. Giving up well-established business models in favour of an uncertain future takes courage. But society also needs to change its mindset if the focus is no longer on ownership. "But if the economy moves forward, innovations give rise to new business models, society can benefit from local value creation and the level of suffering is high enough, then we will also achieve the transformation in society," adds Fabian Takacs, Post-Doc Researcher at the Institute of Business Administration.

The speakers
Together with host Wolfgang Schroeder, Chief Technology Officer a.i. V-ZUG, Marcel Niederberger, Head Sustainability V-ZUG, Barbara Buser, certified architect ETH and partner at baubüro in situ, and Fabian Takacs, Post-Doc Researcher at the Institute of Business Administration (IfB-HSG), we discussed the issues surrounding the circular economy with around 35 participants. The event was moderated by Marloes Fischer, circular economy expert and Member Board of Directors at Madaster Switzerland. You can find out more about the speakers here.

Meet-up
Together with our platinum partners, we organise the annual Meet-up event series. Together with experts, we shed light on a topic and invite representatives from business, science, politics and society to discuss relevant issues in dialogue. Are you interested in taking part in an upcoming event? Then send us an e-mail.

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