Urban Mining

Would you like to recover and reuse valuable materials to build with minimal environmental impact? At Haskoning, we have all the disciplines in-house to make this possible.

Reclaimed construction materials stacked for reuse

We map out the potential of urban mining for your project. Based on this, we provide sound advice and support you in applying these materials. This enables you to understand the environmental impact your organisation can achieve through urban mining, as well as the financial and strategic benefits.

An urgent topic

The Netherlands aims to achieve a fully circular economy by 2050. In addition, European regulations such as the CSRD require sustainability reporting. Geopolitical and market developments are also leading to price increases and material shortages. Urban mining is one of the ways to address these challenges. It offers an opportunity to harness the value of existing materials.

Is urban mining relevant for you?

Owners, asset managers, facilities managers, architects, builders, and contractors can all benefit from urban mining. In fact, it is relevant for anyone involved in replacement, renovation, transformation, demolition, or new construction. Urban mining can be applied to all types of real estate, from corporate real estate to healthcare facilities, and from airports to educational institutions.

For a commercial client, we complemented a standard condition survey with an assessment of the circular potential of materials in a 23,000 m² office building. This was carried out through a desktop analysis and a site visit. We also prepared a building passport that met the requirements of BREEAM-NL New Construction (level ‘Very Good’).

What are the benefits?

Urban mining supports construction with the lowest possible environmental impact. By harvesting and reusing materials, you reduce your carbon emissions and your reliance on new materials. This makes you less vulnerable to scarcity and price fluctuations. There is also a financial advantage: those who reuse existing materials do not need to purchase new ones. Urban mining helps strengthen procurement strategies.

When you look at a building from an urban mining perspective, reusable materials are recognised for their ongoing value. Rather than writing them off, you can include this value in your financial reporting, which opens up additional investment opportunities.

We can support you with:

Menu of options

Using our own assessment model, we create a tailored menu for you. This provides an overview of reusable materials, including costs, environmental impact, and any requirements needed to comply with new product standards. If necessary, we can arrange a test set-up for this.

Material inventory

We identify which materials are suitable for reuse and assign them a condition score, taking into account factors such as ease of disassembly and accessibility.

Integration with existing asset management processes

We use the regular condition survey of a building to assess the disassembly potential and accessibility of materials. This provides insight into the reuse potential of your property and enables you to make informed decisions when required.

Supply chain partners

When recovering materials, it is important to ensure they are actually reused. This requires collaboration across the supply chain. We coordinate with relevant partners to close the loop of urban mining. For example, with suppliers upgrading materials to meet new product standards, or with deconstruction companies carefully dismantling and storing materials. We also help match supply and demand across the many projects we manage.

Why Haskoning?

Would you like to make the process from inventory and dismantling to actual reuse a reality? We have all the necessary expertise in-house to support you. We not only identify reusable materials but also determine what is needed to enable their reuse. With our interdisciplinary knowledge and integrated approach, we bring everything together.

The result is a report by experts, for experts. With our robust and well-considered advice, we help take your organisation’s sustainability ambitions to the next level.