Circular Living Lab for Waterwise Construction

The project focuses on leveraging knowledge and experience from living labs for waterwise construction. It contributes to the National Action Plan for Drinking Water Conservation. The knowledge building blocks to be developed are intended for drinking water utilities, as input for the National Action Plan working groups, as input for the Water-Efficient Construction Platform and for advising municipal authorities, water authorities and project developers.

Importance and objective

The Netherlands wants to build 900,000 new homes before 2030. Constructing every new building project on ‘waterwise’ lines will gradually contribute to the achievement of four water challenges in the built environment:
– Water savings – the efficient use of drinking water
– New sanitation – the effective, sustainable and circular processing of wastewater
– Climate adaptation – the limitation of problems with excessive rainwater, the prevention of heat and water shortages
– Nature-inclusive and biodiverse – the promotion of a green environment and biodiversity

Drinking water utilities are involved in many living labs but solutions from pilot projects and living labs often fail to move forward to full-scale implementation. Drinking water utilities are involved in shaping waterwise construction on the basis of their statutory duty to deliver ongoing and sustainable drinking water supplies at costs that are acceptable for society as a whole, to conduct inspections for the purposes of public health, and to advise municipal authorities and water authorities during new building development. The knowledge and experience acquired by drinking water utilities from living labs are shared and integrated in knowledge building blocks for waterwise construction in the domain of public health, costs and sustainability.

Deliverables and application

The project delivers knowledge building blocks that combine the knowledge and experience from living labs with access to knowledge and development by KWR researchers:
1. Securing public health for a number of system concepts (at the building, district and regional levels)
2. Integral overview (including costs) of system concepts for waterwise construction
3. Exploration of sustainability assessment methods
The knowledge building blocks will be used by drinking water utilities as input for the working groups of the National Action Plan for Drinking Water Conservation, and for advising municipal authorities, water authorities and project developers.

An auxiliary benefit is the exchange of knowledge and experience relating to living labs and the sharing of research results.