The province of Limburg is therefore happy to contribute to the European Digital Deconstruction project. The first steps were taken about 10 years ago within a European Interreg IVC project, in which the province of Limburg as lead partner, together with nine European regions, went in search of successful practical cases of the cradle-to-cradle principle in economics. The core elements of this are the development of new, more conscious ways to produce goods respectively, erect buildings and plan without wasting resources. These elements are economically very interesting and offer a better quality of life, while they are also good for the environment. This course has now been further developed into a circular economy that is resilient and agile with a future-proof society as the ultimate goal.
Building a circular economy
“With the Limburg Circular Economy Policy Framework, we are continuing to build a circular economy in the province, and we are setting frameworks in close collaboration with the municipalities and national government. For the province, knowledge and educational institutions, the business community and SMEs, the four Brightlands campuses and the regional development agency LIOF are particularly important key players.
Due to our location between Germany and Belgium, increasing circularity does not stop at the border and we are establishing important cross-border connections at policy level. There is a great potential for economic challenges in Limburg. Construction is an important sector alongside chemicals and agribusiness. The construction and real estate sector is increasingly seeing the added value of reusing (building) materials and needs resources that can quickly trace and secure materials. Digital Deconstruction is one of those European projects in this area that we attach great value to', says Harma Albering, circular economy coordinator at the province.
Digital deconstruction
'The province has taken on the role of lead partner in the Digital Deconstruction project and is working with partners to develop the integrated Digital Deconstruction software system, so that the necessary tools are made accessible to companies in IT, engineering and construction and real estate sectors, which can then be applied. as an open-source software package for further development and integration into market-ready products and services. Now that urban mining is on the agenda in Limburg, we can use the developed platform to take measurements, collect data about building materials and secure it for reuse. In addition to the development of the DDC platform and the intended knowledge sharing, the project also generates lessons learned to take the DDC philosophy one step further and to validate it in future projects and processes in the construction indust
