Circular Construction and Concrete
About this course
This topic offers an overview of key circularity principles with a strong emphasis on prioritising reuse and retrofitting existing assets. It also includes a detailed examination of recycling in the concrete industry, highlighting the latest technologies that circulate products and materials at their highest value. By completing this topic, you will learn to understand, apply, and promote circular economy principles within the construction sector, identify key stakeholders and their roles in promoting circular economy practices within the construction sector, and evaluate different strategies and techniques for designing buildings and infrastructure with circularity in mind, including materials selection, waste reduction, and life cycle assessment.
You can expect to spend about 2.5 hours on this topic. Should you fail to obtain a passing grade (80%), you may contact us to arrange to retake the evaluation.
Course Staff
Paul Astle
Paul is the Decarbonisation Lead for Ramboll Buildings globally. As a chartered structural engineer Paul has worked on a large variety of concrete structures and is involved in many initiatives to decarbonise concrete.
Paul is a member of the UK Low Carbon Concrete Group and has co-authored several industry documents including, the Low Carbon Concrete Routemap, the Institution of Structural Engineers' book on Circular Economy & Reuse, and the updated RICS Whole Life Carbon Assessment guidance.
Paul also sits on the advisory groups for the ConcreteZero initiative and the forthcoming Flex350 concrete standard.
Brogan McDonald
Brogan MacDonald is a Head of Sustainability in Ramboll UK Building Structures division. She is a Chartered Civil Engineer and Chartered Environmentalist and champions material reuse, reducing embodied carbon and regenerative principles. Her recent work has included the imaginative design of Westbury Hotel to secure its retention, saving 5,000 tonnes of demolition material.
She also co-authored the Institution of Structural Engineers' book on Circular Economy & Reuse.
She is part of the edie 30 under 30 2024 cohort, the winner of ‘Best Young Woman Engineer’ in 2020 Women in Construction and Engineering Awards and she was also awarded the Women’s Engineering Society: Top 50 Women in Engineering & Sustainability 2020.
Vincent Teissier
Vincent Teissier is Head of Circular Construction in Holcim Marketing. He holds a PhD in Chemistry. He joined Holcim in 1999 and has more than 20 years of experience working in various business segments from Roofing and Ready Mix to Cement and Circular Construction.
He had also previously been part of the Holcim Innovation Centre. Vincent has an international profile with large multicultural experience, having worked on global scopes in the UK, Malaysia, and France.
Aiman Yacoub
Aiman Yacoub is a Circularity Business Development Engineer at Holcim. He holds a PhD in Structures and Materials, specialising in the use of construction and demolition materials in concrete.
Before joining Holcim, he spent 3 years as a professor in higher education in Paris.
In 2021, he joined Holcim Innovation Center, dedicating 2 years to the recycled concrete topic. His professional journey reflects a strong commitment to driving business growth and innovation in circular construction across countries.
