Mapping Circularity Strategies in Building Sustainability Assessment Methods

Giarma C. Askar R. Trubina N. Salles A. Lombardi P. Karaca F. Mateus R. Feizollahbeigi B. Karanafti A. Torabi Moghadam S. Pineda-Martos R. Santana Tovar D. Borg R.P. Bragança L.
March 2026 Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI)

Sustainability (Switzerland)
2026 #18 Issue 5

The widespread adoption of circularity principles in the building sector fuels the need for robust and comprehensive evaluation systems, which could benefit from the approaches and indicators employed in widely accepted building sustainability assessment (BSA) methods. Simultaneously, the effective consideration of circular economy (CE) principles into BSA methods becomes increasingly urgent. An important step towards achieving these targets is the investigation of whether, and to which degree, the existing BSA methods encompass and express circularity principles; this study focuses on this relatively underexplored theme. Specifically, this study investigates the degree of association between five widely used BSA methods and the circularity strategies included in the 10R Framework. The methods examined are BREEAM, DGNB, LEED, Level(s) and SBTool (versions and criteria for new buildings). The examination was conducted at the lowest self-contained and score-attributing level of each method and was undertaken by five expert groups—each assigned one method. A quantitative scale from 0 to 5 was used to assess the strength of the association. The results are analysed in terms of (i) the criteria/thematic areas within each method receiving high/low scores, and (ii) the circularity strategies deduced to be strongly/weakly represented in and across the BSA methods. Common trends and milder differences across these axes are observed. Generally, the associations appear stronger in thematic areas relevant to, among others, resources and lifecycle performance, and weaker regarding parameters linked to user comfort. The R-strategies Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Rethink emerge as more intensely represented in the examined methods. The study’s results indicate areas for further research and potential methodological enhancement.

10R framework , building circularity , building sustainability assessment (BSA) , circular economy (CE) , circularity criteria

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Laboratory of Building Construction and Building Physics, Department of Civil Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (A.U.Th.), P.O. Box 429, Thessaloniki, 541 24, Greece
Institute for Sustainability and Innovation in Structural Engineering (ISISE), Associate Laboratory Advanced Production and Intelligent Systems (ARISE), Department of Civil Engineering, University of Minho, Guimarães, 4804-533, Portugal
Institute for Sustainability and Innovation in Structural Engineering (ISISE), Associate Laboratory Advanced Production and Intelligent Systems (ARISE), Department of Civil Engineering, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, 3030-788, Portugal
University Centre for Energy Efficient Buildings, Czech Technical University in Prague, Buštěhrad, 27343, Czech Republic
Interuniversity Department of Urban and Regional Studies and Planning, Politecnico di Torino, Viale Mattioli 39, Torino, 10125, Italy
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, School of Engineering and Digital Sciences, Nazarbayev University, Astana, 01000, Kazakhstan
Departamento de Ingeniería Aeroespacial y Mecánica de Fluidos, Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería Agronómica, Universidad de Sevilla, Ctra. de Utrera, Km. 1, Sevilla, 41005, Spain
Faculty for the Built Environment, University of Malta, Msida, MSD 2080, Malta

Laboratory of Building Construction and Building Physics
Institute for Sustainability and Innovation in Structural Engineering (ISISE)
Institute for Sustainability and Innovation in Structural Engineering (ISISE)
University Centre for Energy Efficient Buildings
Interuniversity Department of Urban and Regional Studies and Planning
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Departamento de Ingeniería Aeroespacial y Mecánica de Fluidos
Faculty for the Built Environment

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