Developing of Comprehensive Circular Rating System for Office Buildings: A Review of Existing Tools and Case Study

As the world moves toward a more sustainable future, the concept of circular economy in the building industry and its evaluation is attracting more and more attention. This study reviews existing building assessment systems from a circular economy perspective, such as LEED, BREEAM, DGNB and SBToolCZ. Since these programs were developed using different approaches, the idea of developing a single comprehensive rating system was put forward. Thus, based on the analyzed criteria of the rating systems, we selected the most relevant ones for our study with a focus on building systems and materials from a circular economy perspective and developed a universal set of key indicators for office building design. This set of criteria was tested on a specific building case study, evaluating its circularity and the effectiveness of the proposed design. The building received a score of 18.1 out of a possible 40 points. In the end, improvements were suggested, after which the overall credit score could be increased by 25%. This study underscores the importance of promoting circularity in the construction industry by requiring a comprehensive rating system that addresses the unique challenges and opportunities of the sector.