top of page
logo-original-small.jpg

CIRCULÉIRE NON-MEMBER CASE STUDY

COMPANY: CPW & HGP ARCHITECTS (BEN AINSLIE RACING HQ)

WEBSITE: CPW & HGP ARCHITECTS

SECTOR: BUILT ENVIRONMENT

PUBLISHED: 02 JULY 2025

TAGS: CIRCULAR DESIGN, CIRCULAR PROCUREMENT, LIFE_CYCLE ANALYSIS, WASTE HIERARCHY, RECYCLED MATERIALS, RENEWABLE ELECTRICITY, WATER EFFICIENCY, RESOURCE EFFICIENCY

In a Nutshell - Votechnik.png

About Ben Ainslie HQ

Ben Ainslie Racing (BAR) headquarters is a building located in Portsmouth in England. It was built to house the British sailing team competing in the America’s Cup. The construction work started in July 2014, with the new facility becoming fully operational in late 2015. The project faced demanding targets from the local government’s planning consent process, since it had to demonstrate its environmental benefits. In the end these initial challenges facilitated the adoption of circular principles in the procurement process, allowing better end-of-life consideration and sourcing of materials.


The Challenge

Construction and building operations account for 33% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and 40% of global energy consumption, owing to the use of equipment, transportation, and building materials manufacturing (Sizirici et al., 2021). In Ireland, construction and demolition generate eight million tonnes of waste (Nugent, 2023), which is more weight than that of the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt. Furthermore, the vast majority of this material is not reused or recycled (Nugent, 2023). More construction is needed as the population grows and urbanisation expands. However, to mitigate GHG emissions, novel, sustainable, and resource efficient construction methods are required.


The Circular Solution

The tender for the BAR HQ was based on creating the first building in Portsmouth with a Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM1) ‘Excellent’ rating. This was a requirement for the local government planning consent. Using Building Information Modelling (BIM), the design team was able to conduct a life cycle analysis of design decisions while also giving informed options for in-use performance monitoring. This promoted circular thinking in the acquisition of construction materials and products.


Following the waste hierarchy, the first principle of the procurement approach was to reduce the impact of the materials energy and water. This approach started with the demolition and recycling of existing materials, e.g. concrete, on the site. The approach also considered where impacts would occur across the whole life of the building. All the key specifications were aimed at achieving the BREEAM Excellent rating. The award criteria was based on a combination of environmental performance and cost, depending on the construction element being procured.


Climate Impact

The collaboration between designers and product suppliers during the BAR HQ project demonstrated the importance of engaging suppliers early. This ensured that solutions offered through the tender stage met environmental performance, as well as cost levels. In terms of environmental benefits, much importance was given to fully or almost fully recyclable and recycled materials.


For instance:

  • 100% of the demolition concrete was reused in the foundations;

  • Over 97% of all demolition materials from the site were recycled;

  • 100% of the steelwork materials are recyclable if the building is dismantled;

  • 100% of the wall cladding is recyclable (Jones et al., 2017).


Importance was also given to energy and water efficiency:

  • 100% renewable electricity;

  • 1200 litre tank for harvesting rainwater;

  • 25% improvement in water efficiency over standard building regulations.


An estimated €2 million to €2.7 million worth of savings were achieved through sustainability measures (Jones et al., 2017).


Replicability

Important factors to consider in projects with environmental performance targets are deadlines, costs and secondary material supply / availability (Jones et al., 2017).


Considering the conceptual and design phases of buildings rely on bids based on costs and CO2 emissions, some examples that are worth mentioning include:


  • JLL’s Manchester office, where upskilling a real estate firm’s staff was the key to embed circular principles into design, procurement and fit-out to showcase how circularity can be brought into an office environment.


  • UN City in Copenhagen, where the new UN hub presented a key opportunity to embed sustainable development and circularity in the building process.




(Top image: Matt Brown, Flickr, under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license)


bottom of page