A review of Circular Economy and the Construction Sector in Ireland: Barriers and Enablers for Circular Economy Adoption

Without immediate intervention, global warming will have devastating consequences on the environment for future generations; as such, there is an urgent need to adopt more sustainable economic practices like the Circular Economy (CE). Although several policies and regulations support this goal, such as the European Green Deal, Ireland consistently ranks among the poorer-performing countries in CE adoption. One of the Irish sectors that contributes the most to this is the construction sector, where the built environment constitutes 30-40% of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. With this in mind, a comprehensive synthesis of the diverse range of barriers and enablers to CE adoption is crucial for developing targeted strategies to improve Ireland’s CE performance and contribute effectively to the sustainability goals. This study comprehensively analyses CE and the built environment in Ireland, drawing from impactful articles, white papers, and reports. This study reveals that key barriers to CE adoption in Ireland’s built environment include pervasive issues in material and waste management, leading to a high material footprint, low Circular Material Use Rate (CMUR), and inadequate recycling of Construction and Demolition Waste (CDW). Critical policy and regulatory shortcomings were identified, particularly the insufficient focus on Whole Life Carbon (WLC) assessment and practical support for Design for Disassembly (DfD). Furthermore, the digitalisation necessary to underpin CE is significantly hampered by a lack of integrated data frameworks, skills gaps, and clear standards. Crucial enablers identified involve strategic policy reforms to stimulate secondary material markets and mandate WLC, the advancement of digital tools such as Building Information Modelling (BIM) for CE and shared material databases, and fostering widespread adoption of DfD principles alongside targeted decarbonisation strategies appropriate for the Irish context.