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Sustainability
How Holcim is bringing concrete changes to the construction of ‘circular’ cities
Growing demand for building materials requires novel approaches to construction. Holcim CEO Miljan Gutovic shows how his company has adopted circularity as a new way to grow the business.
Population growth and rapid urbanization mean the world is expected to build a city the size of Madrid every week until at least 2050 to house more than two billion additional people.
Population growth and rapid urbanization mean the world is expected to build a city the size of Madrid every week until at least 2050 to house more than two billion additional people. That is roughly 10 billion square meters of floorspace every year. While this demand is welcome for the building solutions industry, it also requires a shift in perspective to see today’s waste as tomorrow’s valuable resource.
At least 25% of the estimated 2.24 billion tonnes of solid waste produced worldwide each year is composed of construction and demolition materials, with a third of this being concrete. This contains valuable resources, much of which ends up in landfill. The construction industry has a central role to play in building cities sustainably – with solutions that reduce, recycle, and reuse materials. The recycling of construction and demolition materials can reduce the industry’s environmental impact and preserve primary materials, while also guaranteeing its long-term operational resilience and commercial viability.
Since concrete is infinitely recyclable, the “urban mining” of construction demolition materials is a significant aspect of circular construction. Another is the durability of concrete itself, which, if used correctly, can be designed to last. Others include smart design, which entails building better with less material, and modular construction, which enables disassembly and reassembly to simplify the recycling of concrete.
Holcim is driving circular construction as a strategic priority. The company’s strategy is comprehensive, focusing on closing material loops and maximizing resource efficiency throughout its value chain. We work with partners across the building value chain to source and process construction and demolition materials and specify circular building solutions in large-scale projects spanning infrastructure, industry, commercial, and residential sectors. Public authorities at national, regional, municipal, and city levels have a critical role to play, with landfill regulation often non-existent or insufficiently enforced, and with few requirements or weak incentives for demolished concrete and other materials to be recycled back into new building solutions. This leads to significant disparities across territories, with some EU countries only recycling around 10% of construction and demolition materials.
The building industry has traditionally relied heavily on primary materials such as sand, aggregates, limestone, and clay – the constituent components of cement and concrete. However, Holcim can manufacture concrete that is 100% recyclable with no compromise on performance. Demolishing buildings can create substantial volumes of concrete, as well as dried cement paste, that can be reused to make cement and concrete afresh.
“Sustainability and profitability do not have to be competing objectives.”
Circular construction as a driver of profitable growth
Sustainability and profitability do not have to be competing objectives. Circular construction involves generating value from materials previously considered waste. At Holcim, this reduces our environmental footprint and enhances financial performance.
By incorporating recycled aggregates and other recovered materials into our cement and concrete products, we can improve profit margins on both sides of the ledger. First, via cost savings from reduced reliance on primary materials, with less need for permitting, sourcing, processing, and transportation, and second, via additional revenue, from the premiums associated with the demand for high-quality recycled materials and solutions to meet increasing market demand for sustainable building, as well as new income streams generated from recycling fees.
Circular construction is still in its early stages of development.
Building cities from cities
Holcim’s dedication to circularity stimulates innovation within its research and development initiatives. We are continuously exploring novel material compositions, advanced processing technologies, mix design optimization, and sophisticated digital tools with proprietary patents to optimize resource utilization and enhance the performance characteristics of circular products.
Circular construction is still in its early stages of development. In 2024, Holcim recycled 6.5 million tonnes of construction and demolition materials into products and solutions – equivalent to more than 1,500 truckloads a day. The goal is to recycle 20 million tonnes a year by 2030. At the same time, Holcim intends to expand its network of recycling centers from around 100 to 150. From London to Lyon and Melbourne to Mexico City, Holcim’s wide geographical footprint and strong logistics network give it excellent access to construction and demolition materials available at these “urban mines”.
Holcim’s ECOCycle® circularity technology platform, designed to accelerate circular change, is currently available in 11 countries, with the aim of doubling this number over the next few years. Using the technology, these products guarantee a content of between 10% and 100% recycled construction and demolition materials.
In 2024, Holcim made four value-accretive acquisitions in the circular construction space – in the UK, Germany, Belgium, and Switzerland – to scale up ECOCycle. Under our NextGen Growth 2030 Strategy, Holcim aims to quadruple annual revenue from circular construction to CHF 800m ($998m), while also reducing costs.
Iconic circular projects
Wood Wharf development in London is a prime example of how the system works. Holcim was a key supplier, providing recycled aggregates and other materials derived from old concrete from a decommissioned marine dock. The demolition materials were recycled at the company’s recycling center in Greenwich, less than a mile away from the site.
This project demonstrates how large-scale urban regeneration can be achieved with a significantly reduced environmental footprint by integrating circular principles from the outset. As one of the architects who worked on the Wood Wharf project said: “We rarely get a second bite at the apple – the big, impactful, sustainable moves in a design need to be incorporated early on.”
Another notable project is Recygénie in France, built by Holcim and Seqens, a leading provider of social housing. Recygénie is the world’s first 100% recycled concrete building, providing 220 social housing units to families on the outskirts of Paris. The Holcim Innovation Center developed the world’s first fully recycled concrete for this project, in which all components – cement, aggregates, and water – were recycled. Recygénie’s concrete with ECOCycle saved more than 6,000 tonnes of primary materials.
At the 2021 Architecture Biennale in Venice, a first-of-its-kind 3D-printed bridge called Striatus was inaugurated as a demonstration of a concrete structure that was circular by design. It was created by Block Research Group and Zaha Hadid Architects in collaboration with incremental 3D and made possible by Holcim. Striatus was held together through compression, with no reinforcements, by applying computational design and 3D printing for minimal material use and maximum strength. In a follow-up iteration demonstrating the potential for disassembly and reassembly, an adapted design called Phoenix was built in 2023 from the partial recycling of aggregates from the original blocks of Striatus.
Holcim has demonstrated that concrete can be fully recycled without compromising performance.
The path forward
The transition to a circular economy represents one of the most significant business opportunities of our time. It demands leadership, strategic investment, and a willingness to challenge established paradigms. Holcim is demonstrating that circular construction is not only an environmental aspiration but also a powerful engine for profitable growth and long-term resilience. Since concrete is infinitely recyclable, we can build cities from cities by closing the materials loop and preserving primary resources.
However, creating and accelerating demand for circular construction products requires a supportive regulatory environment. This includes landfill regulations as well as building codes and standards that incentivize the greater and faster market uptake of circular products by integrating sustainability performance into legislation, public procurement guidelines, and product standards, alongside traditional criteria such as safety, performance, durability, and affordability.
Holcim has demonstrated that concrete can be fully recycled without compromising performance. For 20 years, Zurich has shown the way, with a minimum of 25% recycled concrete required for the construction of new public buildings. At the EU level, a new norm will allow member states to mandate that up to 35% of can be used for manufacturing cement. These are important steps, but there is much more that can be done, including the creation of public-private partnerships to design and build supportive frameworks.
Circular construction is the right thing to do, and it also makes good business sense. It is about building more sustainably to preserve valuable primary materials. In addition, it is enabling Holcim to attract and retain top talent and meet customers’ evolving demands. The company is seeking to collaborate with like-minded partners to innovate and collectively forge a future where environmental responsibility and economic prosperity go hand in hand.
Holcim is the leading partner for sustainable construction, creating value across the built environment from infrastructure and industry to buildings. Headquartered in Zug, Switzerland, the company has more than 48,000 employees in 45 markets across Europe, Latin America, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. Holcim offers end-to-end building materials and building solutions, from foundations and flooring to roofing and walling – powered by premium brands including ECOPlanet, ECOPact, and ECOCycle®.
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