Procurement will play a vital role in ensuring circular economy principles are embedded in the UK's multi-billion pound infrastructure programme, according to a new report.
The White Paper, published by the AECOM-led Major Infrastructure – Resource Optimisation Group (MI-ROG), argues that adopting a whole-life approach to infrastructure projects will deliver cost efficiencies and keep assets and materials at their highest value for longer.
The UK’s National Infrastructure Delivery Plan (NIDP) is a major plank of government policy and incorporates around £425bn of planned investment in more than 600 projects and programmes over the next five years and beyond. An additional £58bn of public investment is planned for housing and regeneration, education, health and justice.
Robert Spencer, sustainability director at AECOM and chair of MI-ROG, said the UK was in an ideal position to begin its transition to the circular economy: ‘Importantly, given the large sums of money spent on infrastructure in the UK and the vast materials requirements for their construction, implementing circular economy approaches in the procurement activities of owners and operators will likely have a significant knock-on effect across the wider market.’
The MI-ROG report points out that the scale of the UK’s NIDP will put added pressure on the local availability of construction materials and other resources. It calls for effective engagement between procurement teams and project managers, operators and their suppliers to ensure circular economy principles are adopted early in the project lifecycle.
‘Procurement is a critical stage of this process but existing technical standards can stifle innovation. There are ample opportunities to identify changes in procurement procedures, but mainstreaming circular economy principles will only be achieved through cross-sector collaboration,’ said Spencer.
Incorporating circular economy principles in infrastructure procurement will help drive the market, build greater resilience in supply chains and generate positive environmental benefits than the more traditional linear consumption approach, the paper argues.
MI-ROG includes representatives from the Environment Agency, Highways England, National Grid, Network Rail, Heathrow Airport and Tideway. The white paper is the group’s latest initiative to integrate circular economy thinking into common approaches to procurement.
