Project Description
CERCOM was a transnational research programme funded by the Conference of European Directors of Roads (CEDR) in 2020, aiming to advance the application of circular economy principles across road construction and maintenance. The project sought to provide practical tools and frameworks to enable national road authorities to transition from linear to circular systems, reduce material and carbon intensity, and promote resource-efficient infrastructure delivery across Europe.
Work Undertaken
The UK delivery team, coordinated by ITEN and supported by The Driven Company, contributed significantly to the work package on implementation pathways and behavioural change. Activities included:
- Mapping circular opportunities within the road lifecycle.
- Conducting workshops across multiple European jurisdictions with highways authorities, contractors, and suppliers to understand current barriers and opportunities for circular adoption.
- Supporting development of decision-support tools for lifecycle planning and procurement.
- Contributing to technical guidance for integrating circularity into standards and performance specifications.
- Co-authoring components of the final guidance report focused on procurement enablers, innovation adoption, and cultural barriers to circularity.
- Piloting circularity assessments using real project data from UK highways schemes.
- Facilitating knowledge transfer events to promote CERCOM outputs to UK and Irish stakeholders.
Benefits to the Client
- Policy Alignment: National and local authorities gained greater clarity for embedding and operationalising circular economy principles into procurement, performance specifications, and asset management systems.
- Cross-European Consistency: CERCOM outputs supported greater harmonisation of circular approaches across European road agencies, enabling knowledge exchange and improved benchmarking.
- Implementation Support: Practical tools and metrics provided a robust foundation for transitioning from pilot projects to standardised circular practices.
- Enhanced Stakeholder Capacity: Workshops and targeted engagement sessions strengthened understanding and collaboration across the UK highways value chain, providing a basis for harmonising circularity approaches across European member states.
Scientific and Journal Articles:
- Circular economy in road construction and maintenance
- CERCOM – Adoption of the Circular Economy in Road Construction
- CERCOM – Development of an Analytic Software Tool for the Evaluation of Innovative Infrastructure Maintenance Methods in the Move Towards Circularity
Link to project website: https://cercom.project.cedr.eu/
