Delivering a Material Passport? from Strategy to Customer Value

JEROEN TISHAUSER: Hello, everyone. I'm Jeroen, and I serve as an information manager and Autodesk product owner at VolkerWessels. And today I have an exciting story to share with all of you about material passports. Over the last couple of months, I've been working with the project team to digitally deliver a material passport to one of our clients.

This was new to many. And there weren't many guidelines to follow. So we used a circular strategy as a foundation. I'm here to talk you through the market challenges we encountered and how we, as a contractor, general contractor, embraced our responsibility towards the next generation and how both our projects and clients benefited from this.

But let's make sure we're all on the same page here by defining some of our key terms and definitions. So what exactly is a material passport and what is this circularity score all about? And by the end of the presentation, you-- well, I hope you have a clear understanding of these concepts. And how they can benefit your company. But first, let me provide you with a brief introduction to my company.

At the heart of our operations lies the philosophy of think global, act local. While we have a significant presence in the Netherlands, we also have companies in the United Kingdom, Canada, North America, and Germany. Our corporate family comprises over 130 local operating companies. And we act-- [AUDIO OUT] just talk the talk, we actually walk the walk by taking care of the entire lifecycle, from design and construction to maintenance.

So why should we bother? Why should we bother about a material passport at all? We have the philosophy that we build for generations not years. And as a contractor, we have a unique opportunity to build infrastructure that can last for generations. By constructing projects that are built to withstand the test of time, we contribute to the development of sustainable future. And this long-term perspective ensures that the infrastructure we build will continue to serve communities for generations to come.

This approach is especially important when building large-scale projects. We worked and we're working on quite some of them, like big bridges, dams, pipelines, but also railroad and road networks. We use material passports and resources to build our projects. So we must think about how to make a positive impact in them.

We regard the Earth as a closed system within which there is no waste. And Thomas Rau is an author of a book, and he states that by giving the materials around us an identity, they acquire and retain value. So by documenting the materials and products used in the build environment provides, really, insights into these resources, could be reused time and time and again. And this eliminates waste and will, slowly but surely, create a circular economy.

In order to build viaducts in the future in such a way that we do not need raw materials and we do not need to produce waste, we have built as an example our first circular viaduct, which you see in the background here in the Netherlands. And this means that it's a viaduct made of concrete elements that can be reused undamaged.

So what's our ambition? And what led to material passports? Our general goal is to be emission-free by 2030. And most of the targets of this we can achieve on our own. I'll come back to that later. But some, we really need your help and all of us to help us achieve this goal.

For instance, the exchange and reuse of material. So what might appear of no value to you might be some value to others or to someone else. And there may be exchanging schemas available for that purpose. Let's take a good look at the distances, for instance, how to achieve that.

Of course, if you transport raw material or material you take apart somewhere else, each transport is impacting carbon emission. So [INAUDIBLE] we use locally or work with transportation hubs, for instance, where we have a transportation hub within the city, and then move all the materials back and forth from that installing location. So if you're not able to carry this out, find someone who does and make that happen for us.

So before continuing, let's look at our children. I'm a father of two. And our children grow up with animation shows that build upon sustainability. So reuse, rethink-- what my generation was not. Learn something when you're young, and you'll never forget it.

So look at Rusty, for instance. Rusty creates new robots from wasted parts in a scrapyard. So his team or his saying is "Combine it and design it." And the other one that might be familiar to some is Rocky from Paw Patrol. And Rocky is the recycle pup. So he makes you aware of the importance of recycling. So if the iPad has been on long enough, be sure they at least watch these shows.

Now, let's dive into something essential for the whole story of my presentation and for our sustainability efforts. The R-ladder-- and you might notice, hopefully, of circularity. Think of it as some sort of staircase with different steps, each representing a level of circularity in your process. This letter guides us upon the journey towards a more sustainable and eco-friendly approach.

If you look at the top, you see the very first step is "Refuse and Rethink." This is where it all begins, basically. We're talking about a mind shift, a mindset shift. We refuse to accept wasteful practices and rethink how we can do things differently. It's about saying no to [INAUDIBLE] necessary material and processes and finding innovative ways of alternatives and challenging the status quo.

And if you move down one, you see "reduce." And this is all about minimizing the waste and resource and consumption. We aim to use fewer materials and less energy while still achieving the top-notch results we are aiming for. And next is "reuse." So here we explore opportunities to give a second life to materials and components. It's all about finding creative ways to repurpose what we have. And then remanufacture-- and this step involves the refurbishing, restoring a product and materials to the original glory and extending their lifespan basically.

And following that is "recycle," where we ensure that materials get a new lease on life through the recycling process. It's all about turning old into new. And lastly, we see "recover." And this involves energy recovery, basically. So where we capture and use energy from the waste materials and further minimizing our environmental footprint.

So it's all [INAUDIBLE] of circularity starts with refuse and rethink, guiding us to making responsible choices at every step of our projects. And it's not just about getting the job done. It's really about, well, the way to benefit both us and the planet. So where are Rocky and Rusty in this picture? Well, if you have looked at my previous slides, Rusty is all about repair, reuse, and product parts. So he creates robots from a scrapyard. And Rocky is about our five, about recycling in the process.

Back to our ambition and the practical solutions we've implemented to reach our goal. The blue bit is we take care of this ourselves. So we have a sustainable fleet. We're moving equipment and logistics to be electrified. Or we have big machinery that is now being electrified at the moment. We invest heavily on the electrification of our offices, logistics, et cetera.

And the green bits, we need to do together, with our clients, with you guys, with the governing bodies, stakeholders, and partners who have in-depth knowledge of nature and the environment. So we can make the whole, ecosystem, a little bit better.

If you zoom in a little bit to one of the blue rings that we are doing ourselves. But also, it tends-- have a tendency to watch the screen. We do need some extra help there. But we need a way to record the material we use during the design and construction to be recorded at handover for generations because, let's be Frank, we built a viaduct for 70 years plus. So it needs to be withstanding that time.

So our focus today is one of the practical ways to be able to-- well, for Rocky and Rusty-- to know what can be reused, and what can we recycled. To document-- we need to document our material usage for each asset we build. And that's what we do in the material passport.

And we've set ourselves a goal. So in 2025, 80% of all of our projects need to be delivered by-- with a passport, but also with a circularity score. And I'm introducing a new term here, which I'll explain in the slides to come.

So circling back to my intro, we need some common understanding, if you would like to read all of our material, which is in the passport app. So what is the requirement from different stakeholders in this process?

If we look at what stakeholders really need, and that can be design, that can be a client, that can be anybody who is in that circular economy. So we need a platform to add value and help the decision-making. First, we need to be able to have a documentation of it. So it needs to be accessible this registration and automated intelligence forecasting maybe, and do some object data analysis, all that. So we need to register.

Secondly, we need to be able to analyze and optimize. So we need to get some insights in some of the metrics. We need to get insight into performance of [INAUDIBLE] in terms of the environment, circularity, financial value. And to measure that, to analyze that, and to optimize that.

And finally, which is one of the most important things we need to hand over-- you know, report or digitally. And we need to certify it. Well, to easily generate a readable report, of course, is important, human readable report and convert the performance in a portfolio. Management-- also to be able to benchmark our assets towards our own assets, which we did a couple of years back, or to competitors assets, or to the assets that an owner has. So how does it relate to those other assets.

So the goal of material passport is to generate value, basically. And by mapping and highlighting the potential for the reuse of these projects and materials for varying stakeholders. So material passport increases the customer value of the work because I think the most important compositions are described for each object. And as a result, our customer has a better understanding of the objects. He has insight into the reusability of these multiplied materials. And he has input for determining the maintainability and expected life of these objects. So it's input for the maintenance contract or the maintenance periods.

So the circularity-- what is a circularity score? A circularity score is a degree of secondary material used during construction, their utility, and the potential for reuse and recycling at the end of the life. So if we look at each step that is there in the chart, in the sheet, that each of those phases, from construction, to the use, to the demolition, end of life, the score shows how circular these objects are and provides information about whether and how objects can be taken apart again. So circularity score of the building is reflected as a percentage. And that makes it easy to check.

And each phase, we can then validate the circular design choices we've made. And adding a score just enables us to compare the difference of design alternatives or to compare between different projects or objects.

So what is the solution, a system of record? And before I go into that, look at the background picture. And that's our plastic road. A plastic road consists of a prefabricated, modular, and hollow road construction based on recycled plastic. And due to the prefab production, of course, the light weight, and modular construction, the construction and maintenance can be carried out faster, easier, and more effectively compared to traditional road construction. And with the reuse of plastic, we aim to make a significant contribution to the plastic problem. With 80% less of transport and heavy equipment, and 80% less CO2 emission, and well, especially project road is also discarding the entire, let's say, rubble foundation and acts as a complete rainwater sewer as well.

So back to the system of record. Together with our clients and our office of corporate responsibility, of course, we have selected the platform to act as a system of record for a material passport. And I'm going to show you that one up next.

So we use the Madaster platform, which is a link in the end of the presentation, just to give you an idea of a platform to use. And this Madaster platform allows us to [INAUDIBLE] store and share out material passports. As a basis we use our building information model. And we import this easily in the online environment, using openBIM and IFC.

In the handout, I'll have outlined a workflow to assign the quantities to a multimaterial family in Revit, and this way successfully manage to identify the right amount of material without, let's say, modeling the details right up front in the preliminary design, for instance. And I will explain later to support the circular design process, we need to create passports for each design iteration. We want to achieve, let's say, better product outcome in the end.

So a little video of how that works with us. And here we showcase a project I delivered a couple of months back. It's a lock in the Netherlands for ships to make their way to the North Sea. And some asset information is shown. And the location is added. So have a look at the passport itself. For instance this, the detachability, the degree to which the materials can be disassembled without being damaged, it's only 10% here.

Then we have circularity. It's scored to a degree of secondary materials that I explained before. And we can actually see that percentage as well. And we have then, if we move to the next one, we see the input per material, so feedstock divided into renewable and non-renewable. Secondary is divided into material from reuse and material from recycling. And on the right, you see the output available for reuse and recycle or incineration. And also the environmental impact is calculated and shown, even for each material. This is a total. And if you look at, then, the one down there, you see the environmental impact for each material.

And because it's a 3D model with [INAUDIBLE], we have Revit as a basis exported through IFC. And then with this 3D model available, we can assess each object in much more detail and look at each material property, for instance. But how to explain the refit to IFC, it's in the handout, and it's available for download later if you're interested. But you can see here all the properties, like the volume, but also the material associated to each object. It's a basis for each of the quantities.

Then we look at a database because we need to know where all the information is coming from. There is an EPA database with lots of EPDs. An EPD is a declaration that is closest to life cycle environmental performance of a product. And a lot of material is available publicly and maintained by the EPA organization.

So you can see it there. That's the predefined set. But you can also add your own and see what material impact that might be.

So the benefits-- so we created better design outcomes by just rethinking and reuse material. So what material have we used now on a project? So make parts easy to take apart or disconnect from the main building so we can use them on a different project. It's as simple as that. And try to be better each design iteration in your circularity score, so detachability with each phase, each project. So as a tool, we have a way to, let's say, iterative process of designing to get the best sustainable solution and outcome.

Secondly, it's all about sharing at handover and commissioning. It's not a static document. It can be. It can be a report. But it can also be a live documentation. So the client can actually, on their hands in the use phase, update and add extra information to it and make it a live dashboard. It's not something which is shared only once and created only once. No, it should be maintained.

So in the short term, it's necessary information to be able to organize at maintenance periods. And to make it more optimal, let's say, on the material used for the long time, for future generation, that we can reuse or reuse the scarce materials that we have and build on a circular level, if we take it all apart. So as you've seen, the [INAUDIBLE] form can be used as an EPA database that stores many publicly available EPDs and with actual supplier information. So it helps in getting standardization across.

Up next, we want to bridge the gap. Basically, as an information manager, technology is not the issue. People are. But to be frank, or at least we need to focus on people. We need to be able to make them aware of new possibilities and do a slowly but surely implementation phase in adoption of new technology. So material passport is the same. It will only be used if implementation and adoption within the company is there.

So what are the challenges? We need to continue the conversation with our customers, internally and externally so one can relate to years and not generation. Next generation is hard to cope with. And yes, I can cope with years, but I cannot really cope with next generation teams.

So to explain, I wish we have had this documented, this aging infrastructure documented in the '70s. That would really ease the current struggle we have with the aging infrastructure and explain this to them as well by showing these type of examples. So create demand. Let the product team be motivated [INAUDIBLE]. With each new technology, implemented and adoption are the key to success.

You need to make sure there's a new way of working, and it will be fixed and documented in the processes and quality processes. For instance, as a designer I'd like to use a material passport as a source without ordering new material. What is available on site, for instance? What will be demolished? Is it reusable? Simple questions one can answer or ask themselves tomorrow.

The client, on the other hand, may not be receiving a digital handover or not be willing to or not contractual buying to it. So explain it, walk with him and talk about the deliverables that you can actually deliver. And be sure to discuss the detail and know the LOD, the level of development or a level of detail to which-- because in early design stage, one does not have all the materials to an extent. So you need to be able to add bandwidth, for instance, to these quantities without knowing the exact amount of quantities used.

So far I've talked to you about the new way of registering elements that take place based upon the most recent construction drawings and models and how they can be used in the future, including lessons learned. And now I want to talk briefly about, well, how can we transition to future possibilities. So what, including for instance, the application of material passport in design and usage space, as I said, and make sure that each, well, new step in the design will create an additional performance criteria, an upgraded performance criteria. This allows for alternative material or product choices based upon ambition and insights, like performance.

And this will bring us really to the R1 and R2 steps, if you still remember. Because these really require the involvement from producers, like EPD data that we've seen, among other things. Secondly, the area register is very interesting for us because it provides users with insight where the materials and products are located, because there's a lot of transportation, as I've said, between the different hubs where material is excavated or extracted and where it's reapplied or reused. And that difference or that travel distance needs to also be taken into account. And finally, benchmarking is becoming more important. So how does my object perform compared to other earlier created projects done by me or by objects done by others?

With that, I'd like to finalize my slide deck with a couple of references for you to take in, some links to our own organization, but also to the EPEA and industry I've shown, as a understanding of how you can apply material passport to your organization when you leave the room. So please visit this website. And reference material will be in the handout as well. And with that, I'd like to thank you for attending this class.