Despite greater focus on building sustainably, the construction industry today accounts for a very large proportion of global anthropogenic carbon emissions. Overall, construction accounts for approximately 39 per cent of energy-related carbon emissions and generates approximately 40 per cent of society's total waste.

Sustainable building is no longer enough. Therefore, on Friday 23 August 2024, Aarhus University, the Aarhus School of Architecture and the consulting engineering firm, Søren Jensen, opened the doors to the Aarhus Centre for Regenerative Building, a new, interdisciplinary knowledge centre to promote regenerative building across industries and scientific disciplines so that we give more back than we take from the environment, climate and society.

"It's an action tank where the different parties in the construction industry work together, test initiatives in practice together, and find solutions together," said Professor Mikkel K. Kragh, head of the Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering at Aarhus University.

He continued: "The construction industry is slowly starting to realise that sustainable building is not enough and that we need to challenge existing standards and the "do-what-we-usually-do" approach. This centre is the first step towards a real paradigm shift in construction, and we hope as many as possible will want to get involved, share knowledge and try out new things."

Phasing-in the principles and technologies of regenerative building will require the industry to be highly adaptable, because it will have to completely rethink how construction projects are financed, designed and executed. But there has been a shift, said senior advisor Flemming Wisler from NXT:

"When I sit with contractors and their investors today, there is only one currency. We've had a really hard time getting investments going if they involve anything other than business as usual. But things are starting to change, and the EU has been a great help with the taxonomy and everything that comes with it. In other words, it's all getting into legislation, so that's going to move things forward very quickly," he said during the opening of the centre.

New building technology solutions

The goal of the centre is to promote and fund research and development in the field of regenerative building, and share knowledge between the many parties involved in construction. In the years to come, the parties will focus on establishing much more collaboration between research institutions, industry and business, facilitating test, development and pilot projects, and thus contributing to the development of new building technology solutions, new standards, and new policy measures that can push development in a green and regenerative direction.

The centre is open to anyone interested in regenerative building and knowledge-sharing in the green transition of construction.

"Everyone is welcome to join the dialogue. The centre should be considered as a movement towards a greener and more sustainable future for construction in Denmark, and we're already experiencing great interest in the centre and in sharing knowledge about new solutions, new initiatives and new ideas, so we look forward to continuing the dialogue and welcoming many more," said Mikkel K. Kragh.

Aarhus Center for Regenerative Building is hosting an Open Doors event for the first time on 30 August at Navitas, Aarhus Ø. Everyone is welcome.

Contact

Professor and Head of Department Mikkel K. Kragh
Aarhus University, Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering
Email: mkk@cae.au.dk
Tel.: +45 31167999