GPE has introduced a new ‘circularity score’ to measure the quantity of reused materials the company incorporates into its developments and refurbishment projects.
From 1 April 2025, GPE is targeting a minimum circularity score of 40% for its projects, rising to 50% for those starting after 1 April 2030. The company’s longer-term aspiration is to achieve greater than 60% circularity on all new schemes by 2040.
GPE has set a target of reaching net zero carbon by 2040 and reducing the embodied carbon of its developments and refurbishments by 52% by 2030.
It said that to meet these targets, it would retain and reuse as much of existing buildings as practicable, recover and reuse elements of buildings for use elsewhere in its portfolio or make them available to the wider industry if not reusable on the donor site. It added that it would maximise the quantity of materials in schemes that have been repurposed or reused, including recycled content.
Toby Courtauld, chief executive of GPE, said: “Our new circularity score will challenge us to innovate further and faster than ever before as well as stimulating the growth of a deeper and better functioning market for reused materials. We also expect that our actions will encourage a more valuable and nuanced debate on what constitutes truly sustainable development rather than the currently polarised discussion around retrofit versus new build.”
Janine Cole, sustainability and social impact director at GPE, added: “This is just the first stage of the process. We will regularly revisit our circularity score and intend to develop reuse targets for specific building components with the assistance of our supply chain circularity focus groups. We will use these secondary targets to reduce reliance on recycled content to achieve our targets. Further, we will publicly disclose our building scores for our onsite developments and methodology as part of our reporting obligations in May 2025.
“We firmly believe that measurement supports improved management and that early action to stimulate innovation in our marketplace is essential. We expect, as with embodied carbon, that consensus will emerge on the measurement of circularity and look forward to continued collaboration with the wider industry as we learn and progress.”
