The CHARM partners gathered in Belgium and discussed the developments of the project, the deliverables and the results of the demonstration exemplars executed by GreenSquareAccord (UK), Paris Habitat (France), and Zonnige Kempen (Belgium). A resume of the two days:
First day of the meeting
We started the partner meeting by giving an overview on the investments on the demonstration exemplars of Zonnige Kempen, GreenSquareAccord and Zonnige Kempen, the present situation and developments of the MEP of Paris Habitat and we closed the day with two workshops.
Reporting on the deliverables
These last two periods, reporting as complete as possible on all deliverables is priority. This is the last year of project CHARM, so we have to do the reporting carefully. A couple of the deleverables are about the evaluation and impact calculations of the embodied carbon of the demonstration exemplars.
Professional articles
Sultan Çetin is finalising her PhD. She wrote four articles (see the online library) on this project. One of the articles was written together with dr. Halima Sacranie of the University of Birmingham.
MEP
The Material Exchange Platform (MEP) is called REFLEXE and is the simplest way to connect supply and demand, and to give visibility to the available materials. The website is easy to use. However, the use of the website is still low at this moment. But this could also be because it’s still very new and not yet widespread known. In the near future, Paris Habitat is looking for a physical storage of the materials. On the long term, other social housing companies need to be included, so the platform will grow and could be used by more organisations and people. Then, the MEP is growing towards a digital marketplace.
Workshops
The first workshop (concerning LT 4.1. Business plan Circular Building Strategies) is based on the outcomes of WP T1 and the IPs, cost-benefit-analysis and supply chain will be drafted for each of the four building strategies tested in CHARM and collected in an overall business plan. The workshop was led by TU Delft using the ‘Sustainable Business Model Canvas’ to discuss – and put focus – on the topic. The second workshop was about the Architects Pool that Zonnige Kempen has set up to integrate a circular way of thinking and working from the start of the projects, executed by the Flemish social housing organisation.
Second day of the meeting
The second day of the meeting, we have visited the project site called Vinkenhof. Here, Zonnige Kempen is renovating the Vinkenhof neighbourhood. We then went to see the physical site of the MEP, that is created by Zonnige Kempen. Back at the premises of Kamp C, we got an presentation about a project, where the effect of living in a green environment on wellbeing is being investigated. Then we visited the Exploded View Beyond Building and discovered the way we can build circular and with biobased materials. The day ended with a visit to ’t Centrum: the circular office building of Kamp C.
Final partner meeting in September
The final meeting of this project will be on 29 September 2023 in Paris (France). This meeting will be hosted and organised by social housing organisation Paris Habitat.