Great Portland Estates Launches Circularity Score

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27 November 2024

Great Portland Estates has adopted a circularity score that measures the percentage of reused materials incorporated into its developments.

All projects from 1 April 2025 will target a minimum circularity score of 40 per cent, rising to 50 per cent for those starting after 1 April 2030. 

Great Portland Estates (GPE) will measure circularity by examining the number of materials that have been retained /reused (either from the existing site or wider market) and the proportion of a new material that is derived from recycled content. GPE says that current schemes show circularity scores ranging from 25 per cent (new build) to 55 per cent (refurbishments).

GPE aims to reuse as much of the existing building as practicable, but also to recover and reuse elements of the building for use elsewhere in its portfolio, or make them available to the wider industry.

GPE’s portfolio includes £2.6 billion of real estate within Central London. Approximately 70 per cent of the portfolio is office properties, 28 per cent retail and two per cent residential. The company has pledged to reach net zero carbon by 2040 and reduce the embodied carbon of its developments and refurbishments by 52 per cent by 2030.

Toby Courtauld, Chief Executive, 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 & Social Impact Director, 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."

Picture: a CGI showing the proposed new exterior of one of the Soho Square Estate properties, owned by GPE. Image Credit: GPE

Article written by Ella Tansley | Published 27 November 2024

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