A consortium of European construction and engineering organisations has launched a €4m initiative aimed at transforming how materials from demolished buildings are reused, helping to cut both construction waste and carbon emissions.

Conceived by Arup and Queen’s University Belfast, NuBau Labs aims to tackle two major challenges facing construction: the carbon associated with producing new building materials and the large volumes of waste created when buildings are demolished, with valuable materials often crushed or recycled into lower-value materials rather than reused in new structures.

The €4m project has been funded by Horizon Europe, the EU’s funding programme for research and innovation. The team will develop its first pilot hub on the River Thames in East London.

At its heart is the concept of treating cities as “urban material banks”, where materials from existing buildings can be reused rather than becoming waste. NuBau Labs aims only to step in once the possibility to retain, retrofit and reuse existing buildings has been exhausted wherever possible.

Where deconstruction is necessary, the project will initially focus on recovering materials such as concrete and steel, retaining salvaged sections for high-value reuse rather than crushing or processing them into lower-value materials.

NuBau Labs offers a space in which salvaged materials will be tested, certified and remanufactured into components for use in new buildings – helping overcome the practical barriers that currently prevent mass reuse of construction materials.

Alongside its technical work, the project will bring together local communities, designers, artists and engineers to voice their needs in the design process and explore how reused materials can create high-quality places that reflect local identity, as well as reducing waste and carbon.

Reflecting the principles of the New European Bauhaus initiative, the project aims to combine sustainability, design quality, beauty, lived experience and social inclusion in the development of circular construction solutions.

Kerry Greeves, director and redevelopment specialist at Arup, said: “NuBau Labs represents a fundamentally different way of thinking about the materials already embedded in our cities, taking a systems-led approach to unlocking their value. Rather than treating buildings at the end of their life as waste, we can see them as valuable sources of material for the next generation of buildings.

“Concrete is one of the more challenging materials to reuse at high value, making it an important focus for the project. By bringing together material recovery, testing, remanufacturing, engineering and low-carbon logistics, we want to demonstrate how reuse can become viable at much greater scale – creating a model that could ultimately be replicated across cities in Europe.”

Concrete will be a particular focus for the project, exploring how material recovered from existing buildings can be given a new life as structural components. One of the first solutions to be demonstrated will be ReVault, an Arup-developed floor system that reuses reclaimed concrete to create new floors, representing a 70% reduction in embodied carbon compared to conventional floor systems.

The project brings together expertise across engineering, architecture, research, manufacturing and construction. Arup and Queen’s University Belfast are delivering NuBau Labs alongside GXN, Politecnico di Torino, Banagher Precast Concrete Limited, The Stonemasonry Company Limited, Pilbrow & Partners, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology and the North Adriatic Sea Port Authority – Ports of Venice. Key project participants also include Keltbray, Gardiner & Theobald and the Engineers Reuse Collective.