If it is up to Minister Hugo de Jonge (Spatial Planning and Housing), there will be a standard for the CO2 emissions of materials in buildings. “This is definitely going to change the construction industry,” says Norbert Schotte, co-founder of the Gideons Movement.
A CO2 standard for material use in buildings, a tightening of the environmental performance requirement for buildings (MPG) and the promotion of biobased construction. In a nutshell, that is Minister Hugo de Jonge (Spatial Planning and Housing)'s recipe for more circular construction.
He outlined the plans just before Christmas in a letter to parliament on behalf of three ministries. That was a bit of a Christmas present for the Gideons movement, says Norbert Schotte. He is one of the initiators of the movement, a group of frontrunners who want to change construction in order to achieve climate goals.
The minister's plans are positive, says Schotte. In his opinion, the tone of the letter to parliament is the most important. “They now also see in The Hague that we have to take more radical steps when it comes to building materials.”
In particular, the future requirement for CO2 emissions from the use of building materials is a breakthrough. In this requirement, the minister also wants to include the storage of CO2 in materials. It is not yet clear whether the requirement will include the CO2 impact of the entire life cycle of a structure, or only the phase of the production of building materials and the construction itself.
Schotte has been arguing for two years for including CO2 storage in building materials when calculating the MPG. Together with sustainable construction driver Jan Willem van de Groep, he initiated a manifesto in December 2020 that advocated this. That manifesto was signed by about 240 parties, says Schotte. It led to parliamentary questions from D66 about the standard and the then minister Kasja Ollongren decided to investigate how CO2 storage in materials can be calculated.
The results took a while, but last July the time had finally come. The minister now wants to draw up a requirement based on the investigation. “It is a long-term process,” says Schotte. “But there was never a moment when we thought: 'Leave it alone'. We will keep going after it.”
Before July 1, the minister will present proposals for standardizing CO2 emissions from materials and ways to tighten the MPG to 0.5 in 2025. The requirement is currently still at 0.8.
Until 1 July 2023, the minister will investigate the environmental performance and material-related CO2 emissions of buildings that will be built or completed in the near future. “With this I aim to obtain the most up-to-date picture possible of what is possible in 2025 and further towards 2035,” said the minister.
The MPG already includes CO2 emissions in the calculations, but the method leaves something to be desired, says Norbert Schotte of consultancy firm Alba Concepts. “The MPG has a lead time of 75 years. If you now have high CO2 emissions, and you promise to reuse these materials in 75 years, you can offset those emissions against each other. That is strange, of course, because we now have a climate problem.” Schotte also finds the rules striking for biobased materials. The materials store CO2, but the MPG assumes that these materials will be burned over 75 years. This releases CO2 again. “But in 75 years' time we will no longer be throwing wood into the oven. It is a logical assumption that this will no longer be allowed by then. That is why we have argued for a separate CO2 requirement.”
It is therefore still unclear what exactly the CO2 standard will entail. It will therefore not immediately change the construction industry, says Schotte. It is expected to be introduced in 2025, along with the tightening of the MPG. The homes that will be licensed with the new measures by then will not be built until around 2027.
Minister De Jonge does not like to implement stricter requirements too quickly, because this may delay construction and lead to higher construction costs. “In doing so, they are already reducing some of the urgency of the plans,” says Schotte.
Although he does understand the warning. This is also necessary to keep the more hesitant parties happy, but it is also simply not possible to suddenly only build biobased. “The chain from farmer to construction doesn't actually exist yet. The moment you start scaling up, this will also result in lower construction costs. But that is not possible yet. That is why it has to be – accelerated – step by step.”
Nevertheless, the plans will eventually mean something for the construction sector, Schotte expects. “If there is a CO2 requirement, and it becomes increasingly strict over the years, builders will opt for materials with a low or negative CO2 impact. In other words, that could mean that in ten years' time you will no longer be able to use fossil concrete, steel or rock wool. So it will definitely change the construction industry.”
The minister also wants to encourage building with biobased materials. How exactly is not yet known. However, the ministry has allocated a subsidy of 1.8 million euros for Building Balance. From January, the government will start this program in which various biobased raw materials are grown and processed into building materials at thirteen locations. With this, the parties involved are investigating the possibilities for regional chains and investigating how the cultivation of the raw materials and processing can be carried out as well as possible.
In the sector, Schotte notices that the sector is increasingly involved in biobased construction and reducing CO2 emissions. “Especially the larger and sensible parties are working on this.” Although not everyone will just go along with De Jonge's plans. “You will also have parties that will ‘compete along’. They will say publicly that it is good, but in the background they will delay and block it.”
But those parties are selling themselves short, he thinks. It's a dead end. “We have to go this way. And I get that this can hurt. You will only be completely dependent on fossil materials. This requires the resilience of parties to keep up with the times, instead of struggling.”
Aan de rand van het Dakpark in Rotterdam realiseert Slokker Bouwgroep het project Kop Dakpark: een nieuw woongebouw dat stedelijk wonen combineert met groen, ruimte en leefkwaliteit. Het project vormt een markante entree naar het park en draagt bij aan de verdere ontwikkeling van Delfshaven als aantrekkelijke woonomgeving.
Voor Woonzorg Flevoland realiseert QBIX een moderne woonzorgomgeving waarin comfort, duurzaamheid en leefkwaliteit centraal staan. Het project is gericht op het creëren van een toekomstbestendige zorgomgeving, met oog voor zowel bewoners als de directe leefomgeving.
De ambitie om duurzaam te verbouwen leeft breed in de bouwsector. Energiezuiniger, circulair en toekomstbestendig bouwen wordt steeds vaker als uitgangspunt genomen; juist ook bij renovaties. Maar in de praktijk blijkt duurzaam bouwen vaak complex, zeker als het gaat om bestaande gebouwen die niet ontworpen zijn voor de normen van nu. In die zoektocht krijgt bio-composiet materiaal een steeds grotere rol.