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Dear <<First Name>>,
The year 2020 is nearly behind us. An unusual year in which COVID-19 made its entrance and brought the world to a standstill. Is this a turning point in history, or will things return to ‘normal’ in no time at all? Will governments in 2021 try to restart the economy by supporting outdated and polluting industries, or will they shift their priorities to creating employment in sectors that work towards a clean future without excessive use of resources? The past year has served to convince us even more that Madaster is following the right path. Thanks to our innovative partners, platform users and the worldwide Madaster team, in 2020, we were again able to realise some wonderful projects. In this newsletter, we highlight a few of them for you. And, to follow Apple’s tradition of adding yet another surprise, we also have ‘just one more thing’ to tell you: In 2021, Madaster will be starting up in Norway and Germany!
First, here is an overview of our 2020 highlights. We wish you all happy Christmas holidays and look forward to seeing you, hopefully in person, in 2021.
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Material passports learning process
In early 2020, BPD Building Fund Property Development immediately took charge with respect to the development of new, sustainable residential areas, and decided to create material passports for 1,000 new homes. In September, BPD invited seven partners within their chain to discuss the latest state of affairs, the lessons learned and the prospects. The chain partners were outspoken about what they considered are the benefits of a material passport and provided valuable feedback for the further development of the Madaster Platform. Currently, BPD is able to generate material passports in Madaster for over 500 homes. We are proud of the positive experiences and, of course, we will keep you informed in the new year about how this wonderful learning process is developing.
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Presentation of material passport certificates in Amsterdam Metropolitan Area
Municipalities in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area (MRA) were offered a certificate for creating a Madaster material passport for at least one of their buildings. In total, 13 municipalities received such a certificate.
‘The material passport contributes to the future reuse of building materials and, therefore, is an important instrument to further promote such reuse’, according to municipal executive Van Meekeren of the municipality of Purmerend.
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Launch of the Madaster Education Platform
In March, Madaster launched an online educational environment for students to test the circularity of their construction designs. Alfa-college was the first Dutch educational institute that decided to use this platform. The Madaster Education Platform has also attracted international attention. For example, Cornell University College of Architecture, Art, and Planning (AAP) has started to use this platform for educational purposes in their own design programmes. Currently, students and teachers from the Faculty of Architecture, Arts and Planning in New York are experimenting with the software to explore a possible joint project with Madaster, exchange experiences and feedback, as well as share design ideas. Of course, we will keep you informed of the developments.
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Environment Register
The Amsterdam Metropolitan Area and the Amsterdam Economic Board held a competition for the best idea regarding an open, honest and reliable data market. This competition was won by Madaster and Cirkelstad with their plan to realise an environmental register. The register makes data available from various sources of information — including Madaster — via a number of search options and data downloads. After all, access to data on materials will stimulate owners, builders, researchers and supervisors to use and reuse materials in such a way that waste can be avoided. The first Environment Register webinar took place on 18 May. This was also the kick-off for a special coalition of people and organisations from within and outside the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area who want to help shape the Environment Register. Over 35 people took part in the webinar and showed interest in the realisation of this register. The first version of the Environment Register is currently being prepared.
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International development
The international interest in Madaster is high and we regularly have discussions with people around the world about implementation possibilities. Last July, the platform became available for users in Switzerland, in both German and French. And we are proud to announce that, in 2021, we will also be starting in Norway and Germany. We are currently preparing to welcome the front runners at the beginning of next year. Germany and Norway, thus, are taking an important step in the transformation towards a circular economy.
In addition to the countries mentioned above, we are also working on specific projects and pilot projects in Finland, Denmark, the United Kingdom, Belgium and Australia. And let’s not forget Taiwan! As a scientific research advisory organisation with expertise in economics, biology, chemistry, construction, environmental sciences and other fields, EPEA Taiwan makes an important contribution to the realisation of circular economy products. We are expecting to make real international impact in 2021 and, naturally, will keep you informed of any progress in this area.
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Madaster Platform developments
Based on developments and experiences in the market, also this year, we worked hard on further development of the Madaster Platform. Existing functionalities were optimised and many wonderful new functionalities were developed. For example, the Madaster Platform provides better insight into the toxicity of products and creates more flexibility in setting up and designing the digital real estate portfolio. In this way, an entirely new User Interface has been developed. In addition, the matching & enrichment tool has had a major upgrade. The adapted technical infrastructure not only provides the required flexibility but also increases user-friendliness. These are just some of the many impressive developments of the Madaster Platform, which currently contains information on more than 2000 buildings, totalling a gross floor area of 7.6 million square metres!
Curious about how the platform works?
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> 55 Madaster Partners
The interest in circular construction and the use of material passports has grown exponentially, over the past year. We end this year with over 55 innovative partners, who form a representative share of the construction sector. From paint producers and architects to contractors and developers, the entire chain is interlinked. This is also demonstrated by the large number of participants in our partner training courses. This year, we held no fewer than 13 in-house training sessions and 5 open partner training sessions. The focus in these sessions varied from the technical aspects of how to create a Madaster material passport to the more commercial aspects of how to include such material passports in propositions and tenders. Feedback from all partners is extremely valuable for the further development of the Madaster Platform. By properly matching supply and demand, we are able to increase the already high-quality material passports and, together with our partners, will be able to take big steps towards a circular economy. If you are curious about how you could create value for your customers by using the Madaster Partner Programme, please contact Sander Beeks at sander.beeks@madaster.com or +31 (0)85 060 1242.
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Triodos Bank: material bank as learning process
The completion of Triodos Bank's new head office, this September, resulted in one of the highest quality material passports. The building was designed according to the circular vision of RAU Architects, which means that all of the materials incorporated in the building can be harvested in the future without any loss of value. The name, origin, composition and quantity of each of the materials contained within this building have been registered in Madaster. This was achieved through close cooperation, during the building process, between main contractor J.P. van Eesteren, engineering company Bosman Bedrijven and EDGE. For all involved, it was the first time that such a detailed registration of materials and products was carried out. A great opportunity to experience a learning process together.
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The world’s first business park with a Madaster material passport
In September, Schiphol Trade Park, an SADC N.V. development project, was the first business park in the world to have been completed with a Madaster material passport. In this way, SADC as client and KWS Infra as sustainable building company, together, secured all the materials for future reuse. In addition to providing passports for buildings, this was a first step for Madaster towards material passports for infrastructural works.
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Material passports for the mechanical engineering sector
Engineering firm Deerns and Madaster joint forces, this year, to investigate how material passports could be applied in mechanical engineering. Although increasing numbers of companies and clients are embracing these passports for their buildings, the passport component that relates to installations often turns out to be a tricky issue, even though the environmental impact of such installations accounts for about 35% of a building’s total environmental impact. And because technology is applied, increasingly often, to make people feel more comfortable, its impact becomes even greater. To obtain more insight into these aspects, Deerns and Madaster conducted a survey among experts in the field of technical installations. The results from this survey are described in a blog post by Casper De Schrevel, Circular Economy and Healthy Building Advisor at Deerns.
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EU framework for a digital building logbook (B-Log)
This November, a stakeholder meeting was held in relation to an EU framework for a digital building logbook. Madaster participated in this meeting as a front runner. A definition of the digital building logbook was formulated and a report was published (‘Building logbook state of play’), providing a comparative analysis and assessment of existing EU initiatives. Surprisingly enough, Madaster is the only digital logbook that:
- is operational;
- is able to automatically process 3D/BIM;
- has both a financial and environmental impact.
We are looking forward to a positive follow-up, based on the recommendations to the European Commission, and it goes without saying that we will keep you apprised of any developments.
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Roadmap 2021
In 2020, we realised many of the wishes voiced by our partners and platform users with a number of releases and release notes. For 2021, we are also preparing large and often-requested expansions of the Madaster Platform. Efforts include, for example, further improving automatic matching, linking manufacturers’ and suppliers’ data on the platform, and offering completely new insights in addition to the circular and financial aspects (keep an eye out for our updates!). For the Dutch market, we will deliver a solution for regulation with respect to the Dutch Construction Quality Assurance Act (WKB) and will implement the guidelines from the Dutch circularity standards initiative CB’23. And, of course, we will be taking an important step in our internationalisation and expand our platform to Norway and Germany. In the new year, we would like to present you with the complete and more detailed roadmap. Meanwhile, keep an eye on our newsletters and follow us on LinkedIn.
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