Edge Debate 194: The Circular Economy – how the built environment can make it a growth economy
The concept of a ‘ circular economy’ is not new. The formation of a Circular Economy Taskforce by the then Secretary of State at Defra provided the impetus to explore how to put this into practice across the built and natural environment and the government has plans to publish its Circular Economy Growth Plan early in 2026, where the built environment should feature as one of the key sectors.
This session at Futurebuild provides an opportunity for our sector to demonstrate how we can contribute to a growth economy based on circularity principles.
Chair:
David Greenfield, President of the Chartered Institution of Waste Management (CIWM), Managing Director, SOENECS and member of the Circular Economy Taskforce
Speakers:
Libby Peake, Taskforce member and Senior Fellow and Head of Resource Policy, the Green Alliance
Katherine Adams, Co-Chair Green Construction Board Resources, Waste and Circularity Group and Co-Founder of Reusefully
Jason Millett, Group Chief Executive, Mace Group
Yetunde Abdul, Director of Industry Transformation, UK Green Building Council (UKGBC)
Eoin Bailey, UK Innovation Manager and Circular Economy Lead, 7 Steel
Tuesday 12th May 2026, 10.30-11.30, ExCel, London
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Edge Debate 195: Reuse in practice – the multiple social, environmental and economic benefits of reusing buildings
Time is not on our side if we are to seriously change the direction in which we are moving in terms of the multiple social, environmental and economic crises that climate change is causing and will increasingly cause over time. As designers, we have a major contribution to make and one of the critical ones is protecting resources and this includes our existing buildings. Taking a leaf out of the book of architects such as Anne Lacaton and Jean Philippe Vassal, the first principle should be ‘never demolish’ but seek transformation over demolition.
In this conversation, Chris Williamson, President, Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) discusses the practicalities, opportunities and positive outcomes that can be achieved with:
Mina Hasman, Sustainability Director, SOM and Chair, Climate Action Group
James McCosh, Principal, VHH Architects
Gary Elliott, Chief Executive and Founder, Elliott Wood
Tuesday 12th May 2026, 11.45-12.30, ExCel, London
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Edge Debate 196: Ethics, codes, and the urgent dilemma for practitioners and professionals - Understanding our collective and individual responsibilities
With an ever-growing list of polycrises to tackle, how do we make the right decisions as to what we work on, how we push back with our clients, and how we treat one another along the way? While an institution or company director can never dictate what is and isn’t ethical, perhaps it can and should mandate that we engage with the topic. Debate and research led by the Institution of Structural Engineers and Institution of Civil Engineers in 2025 identified a series of common dilemmas with which design professionals must engage if they are to best serve the public – from over-demolition and over-design to procurement failures and short-term finance. In this session, we will ask participants to share practical examples of how we can enable each other to speak up, challenge bad briefs, discuss the difficult topics, and make a stand when the projects we surround ourselves with start turning unethical.
Chair:
Efrosyni Konstantinou, UCL, Director of Ethics, Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction, UCL
Speakers:
Carys Rowlands, Head of Professional Standards, Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors
Chris Wise, Senior Director, Expedition, and Fellow of the Institution of Structural Engineers and the Institution of Civil Engineers
Mark Nason, Head of Professional Practice, Chartered Institution of Ecology and Environmental Management (CIEEM)
Saul Humphrey, Senior Vice-President, Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB)