Circular Economy Statement outline and the material passport

A circular economy statement outline is a target document with a reporting tail, and that is what separates it from a sustainability narrative. Two numbers drive it. The London Plan expects at least 95 per cent of construction and demolition waste to be reused, recycled or recovered, and at least 95 per cent of excavation waste to be put to beneficial use. Everything in the statement either supports those figures or explains how they will be measured after completion.

The commitment does not end at determination. Guidance for referable applications requires a post-completion report comparing what was actually built and demolished against what the statement promised, which means the statement has to be written so that somebody can audit it two or three years later.

Section one: the baseline audit of existing materials

Start with what is already on the site. A pre-redevelopment audit records the existing buildings and structures, the materials in them, the quantities, the condition and the realistic reuse potential of each.

The audit should list elements rather than generic categories. Steel frame by tonnage and section size. Brick by quantity and bond, with a note on mortar type, since lime-mortared brick can be reclaimed and cement-mortared brick usually cannot. Timber by species, dimension and condition. Raised floors, doors, sanitaryware, light fittings and mechanical plant by count and age. Slabs and foundations by volume, with an indication of whether they can be crushed on site.

Two things make an audit usable rather than decorative. Each item needs a destination, whether that is retention in situ, reuse on site, reuse off site, recycling or disposal. And each item needs a rough quantity, because a statement without quantities cannot generate a target. A Pre-redevelopment Audit prepared properly at this stage does most of the work for the rest of the document.

Section two: retention and reuse decisions

Set out the retention decision explicitly, and justify it. The hierarchy runs from retaining the whole building, through retaining the structure and refitting, retaining the substructure and frame, reusing components elsewhere, recycling into new products, and finally disposal.

State what was considered and why the chosen option was selected. Where demolition is proposed, the statement has to explain why retention was rejected, in terms an officer can test: structural capacity, floor-to-floor heights, contamination, daylight, or a use that cannot be accommodated. A statement that asserts retention was not feasible without setting out the analysis is the most common reason for a request for further information.

Then quantify what is reused. Crushed concrete as sub-base on site, reclaimed brick in boundary walls, retained steel sections in the new frame, salvaged paving. Give tonnages rather than intentions.

Section three: design for disassembly measures

This is the forward-looking half of the document, covering how the new building can be taken apart in several decades.

• Mechanical fixings in preference to adhesives and wet-applied finishes
• Bolted rather than welded connections in structural steel, with accessible connection points
• Layered construction so that short-life elements can be removed without disturbing long-life ones
• Standard component sizes and repeatable grid dimensions
• Avoidance of composite and bonded materials that cannot be separated into their constituents
• Demountable partitions, raised floors and suspended ceilings specified as systems rather than fixed elements
• Accessible service routes so that mechanical and electrical plant can be replaced without demolition

Each measure should be tied to a drawing or a specification clause. A list of principles with nothing behind it is not evidence, and officers reviewing these statements have become quick at spotting the difference.

Section four: the material passport and what it records

A material passport is a structured record of the materials and products in the completed building, held so that a future owner can identify what is there and what it is worth. It is not a statutory requirement, and it is increasingly asked for as a commitment because it is what makes the disassembly measures meaningful.

A workable passport records, for each major product or element: the product identity and manufacturer, the constituent materials, the quantity and location in the building, the fixing method, the recycled content, the expected service life, and the end-of-life route. It should be a dataset rather than a document, so that it can be maintained.

Commit to a passport in the statement, say who compiles it, when it is delivered, in what format, and to whom it is handed at practical completion. A commitment without those four answers will be conditioned in a form you did not choose.

Section five: material efficiency and waste targets

This is the numerical core. Present it as a table that a reviewer can check.

Forecasting construction waste is where statements get vague. Use a rate per square metre of floor area from a recognised benchmarking source and say which one, then apply it to the scheme's area. A forecast with a stated method is defensible even if the figure turns out to be conservative. An unattributed figure is not.

Keep the waste forecast consistent with the Site Waste Management Plan where one is required, since the two documents will be read together and a discrepancy between them undermines both.

Section six: reporting commitments after completion

Write this section as a set of obligations with dates, because it is the part that gets secured by condition.

1. A bill of materials for the completed building, delivered at practical completion.
2. Actual demolition and excavation waste figures, with waste transfer documentation reconciling them to the targets.
3. Actual construction waste figures against the forecast, with an explanation of any variance.
4. The material passport dataset in the agreed format.
5. A post-completion report submitted to the authority within the period the guidance specifies, comparing outcomes against commitments.

Name the party responsible for each. On most schemes that is the principal contractor for the waste data and the design team for the bill of materials, and if nobody is named the obligation lands on whoever holds the file when the condition falls due. Build the data collection into the contractor's appointment rather than asking for it retrospectively, because waste transfer notes are difficult to reconstruct a year after the skips have gone. The reporting structure for a Circular Economy Statement is worth settling before the statement is written rather than afterwards.

Section seven: the relationship with the carbon assessment

The circular economy statement and the whole life carbon assessment are companion documents, and they should share their inputs.

The quantities in the bill of materials feed both. Reused and recycled content reduces embodied carbon in the upfront stages, and design for disassembly affects the end-of-life stages. Where the two documents give different material quantities for the same building, a reviewer will notice, and the usual cause is that the two consultants worked from different revisions of the drawings.

Coordinate them in three ways. Agree a single quantity take-off and a single drawing revision as the basis for both. Cross-refer the reuse assumptions so that a retained frame appears as avoided embodied carbon in the Whole Life Carbon Assessment and as a retention decision in the circular economy statement. And align the reporting timetables, since both documents carry a post-completion obligation and submitting them together halves the administrative effort.

Outside London the requirement is less standardised, and a number of authorities now ask for circular economy information through their own local plan policies or validation lists. Check the validation list before deciding the scope, because a statement written to the London format for a scheme in a district with a lighter requirement is wasted effort, and one written too lightly for an authority with a specific policy will come back.

Draft your Circular Economy Statement once the pre-redevelopment audit quantities exist, not before. PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval.