Material Intelligence Services Emerge
Dutch and European developers are increasingly using "material intelligence" advisory services to ensure compliance with environmental standards. These services provide detailed reviews of building finishes, track supply chain impacts, and map materials for ESG reporting. This trend aligns with upcoming EU regulations that will mandate digital product passports for construction materials.
- The Netherlands has set a goal to achieve a fully circular economy by 2050, with a near-term target of a 50% reduction in the use of primary abiotic raw materials like minerals, fossils, and metals by 2030. The construction sector is a primary focus of this initiative as it currently accounts for half of all raw material consumption in the country. - The revised EU Construction Products Regulation (CPR) entered into force on January 7, 2025, and will become more broadly applicable from January 8, 2026. This regulation makes Digital Product Passports (DPPs), containing detailed technical and environmental data, mandatory for construction products. - To support these goals, the Dutch Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations is tightening the Environmental Performance of Buildings (MPG) requirement, a key measure of a building's sustainability. For new homes, the required MPG score will be lowered from 0.8 to 0.5 as of January 1, 2025, mandating a lower environmental impact. - Pioneering Dutch initiatives like the Madaster platform are creating a public online library for materials used in the built environment. By generating a "material passport" for each building, it documents the quality, origin, and location of all materials, providing insight into a building's circularity and financial residual value. - The VNG (Association of Netherlands Municipalities) supports municipalities in implementing circularity through initiatives like CircuLaw, an online tool that provides insight into the legal instruments available for stimulating circular practices, such as promoting timber construction. - Digital twins are being increasingly utilized in the Dutch construction sector to enhance sustainability and efficiency. For example, in Den Bosch's Innovation Quarter, a digital twin is used to visualize material flows, track traffic, and calculate environmental impacts like CO2 emissions and noise pollution from construction activities. - In a joint effort with the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, industry stakeholders have launched "Het Nieuwe Normaal" (The New Normal), a framework that establishes a universal language and standards for circular construction across buildings, infrastructure, and area development. - The Dutch government is actively encouraging the transition through its procurement policies, committing to a circular approach for its own buildings. Since January 1, 2023, all governmental bodies are required to include environmental and circularity criteria in their tendering processes.
