Reusing precast concrete for a circular economy

International ReCreate project aims to discover how used concrete elements can be deconstructed without damaging them to be reused in new buildings – and turn the process into a profitable business. The four-year project has received €12.5 million of funding under the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme.





Activities


June 12, 2025

Olli Vigren KTH Royal Institute of Technology: Civil and Architectural Engineering Stanford University: Center for Integrated Facility Engineering & Scandinavian Consortium for Organizational Research Industry, scholarly, and policy interest in reusing concrete elements in construction has been on the rise. Reuse of concrete elements involves salvaging these elements from buildings condemned for demolition and reassembling […]

June 6, 2025

ReCreate blog post series on mapping in WP1 Post 4 Author: Niko Kotkavuo, researcher, Tampere University To gain a broader perspective on the possibilities of reuse and ease knowledge and technology transfer across borders, one of the goals in the ReCreate project is to gather data on precast systems from various European countries. The work […]

May 27, 2025

Introduction to the report: Legal and technical requirements in reusing precast concrete of the ReCreate project. The full report is available here. Paul Jonker-Hoffrén, Tampere University The ReCreate report, Legal and technical requirements in reusing precast concrete, provides a comprehensive analysis of the legal and technical requirements for reusing precast concrete elements in four European countries: […]



Events


January 31, 2025

16-18 September 2025 Tampere Hall congress centre Tampere, Finland (street address Yliopistonkatu 55) About the conference The 2nd International Conference on Circularity in the Built Environment (CiBEn) brings together pioneering researchers from all over Europe and beyond to share knowledge on the state-of-the-art on circular construction. Organised in collaboration between Tampere University (Finland), TU Delft […]


About us

ReCreate

The aim of this project is to improve the technical and economic viability of deconstruction and reuse of precast concrete structures that have not been designed for deconstruction. ReCreate pushes towards circular construction by investigating the systemic changes needed in the whole ecosystems of construction and demolition.

More about us



Most used construction material

Concrete is the most used construction material globally and in the EU. It is also a highly carbon-intensive material.

Bridge the knowledge gaps

Hindering the deconstruction and reuse from reaching maturity as a socio-technological process by learning from innovative pilots.

Importance of ReCreate

The concept of ReCreate is to work with industry partners and buildings owners in four pilots (located in DE, FI, SE, NL)



About Project

Project goals


ReCreate aims to bridge the knowledge gaps hindering the approach from reaching maturity as a socio-technical process by using the innovative pilots to explore, develop and demonstrate various national value chains, business models, legislation obstacles (e.g. building vs. waste legislation), as well as diverse building stocks with different kind of representative construction technologies, building types and sizes, and ownership structures.






Innovate and develop novel technological solutions for deconstruction and reuse



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EU FUNDING

“This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 958200”.

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