Reporting on CIB W115 Achieving Circularity in the Built Environment Progress and Update
Run by: Achieving Circularity in the Built Environment Commission, The International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction (CIB W115)
Speakers:
Description:
The W115 Commission has been renamed from Construction Material Stewardship to Achieving Circularity in the Built Environment, with the change officially approved by the CIB Board in May 2025. Two new joint coordinators, Professor Holger Wallbaum and Dr Maud Lanai, have joined the existing joint coordinator, Professor Tayyab Maqsood. The Commission’s updated aims and objectives are available at:
https://cibworld.org/cib-commissions/w115-achieving-circularity-in-the-built-environment/. The Commission’s work is structured across six sub-programmes:
As CIB is a partner of SBE2026, we would like to take this opportunity to present a progress update on W115’s activities, including an overview of research undertaken within each sub-programme. Additionally, we will extend an invitation for interested and relevant stakeholders to join the W115 Commission.
Localisation, DRR & Earthquake Recovery
Run by: RMIT, WWF, EMI World, Humanitarian Advisory Group
Speakers:
Description:
Compound Panel Discussion and Crisis Simulation: Two months into recovery efforts following devastating floods, participants are confronted with a second disaster: a major earthquake strikes the already fragile city of Floodsville. Led my an expert practitioner panel, and through live simulation and hands-on rebuilding activities, this immersive session explores how to conduct assessments following cascading disasters, “build back better” principles, disaster risk reduction, and the role of business and local actors in creating resilient recovery systems.
Net-Zero Buildings by 2050: What Will It Really Take?
Run by: Global Buildings Performance Network (GBPN)
Speakers:
Description:
The buildings sector faces a stark reality. Despite growing commitments and proven solutions, the world is not yet on track to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. This 90-minute interactive workshop brings together researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to explore what will actually be required to achieve net-zero buildings by 2050. Featuring keynote remarks from Professor John Thwaites, former Deputy Premier of Victoria, and short presentations on current research and systems models, the workshop combines expert insight with structured breakout discussions on net-zero pathways. Join us for a candid conversation on the barriers, trade-offs, and transformative shifts required to meet our 2050 goals.
SDGs & Sustainable Built & Urban Environments:
What's Next?
Presentations and panel discussion on: Are the SDGs still fit for purpose — and what comes after 2030?
Co-Chairs and Moderators:
Panellists
[SDG listing: All generally in concept, and more specifically SDG 3, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12, 13, 16 and 17]
Description:
Are the SDGs still fit for purpose — and what comes after 2030? For the built environment, the end of the SDG decade is a moment of reckoning — or opportunity, depending on what we do next. When the UN adopted the SDGs in 2015, they gave the world a shared language for action, shaping research agendas, policy frameworks, investment decisions, and the programs of conferences like this one. But their limitations surfaced early: a list of goals rather than a coherent system, difficult to apply at the scale of a building, a neighbourhood, or a city — and increasingly co-opted as a carbon accounting exercise while broader sustainability ambitions quietly narrowed. Progress has been made, but it has been uneven and fragile. Political will has faltered in some places. Key international initiatives have lost government backing. Meanwhile, circularity, regenerative design, and planetary boundaries frameworks compete for attention, promising transformation but risking further fragmentation of effort. The UN's own Pact for the Future[1] signals that the post-2030 agenda is already moving onto the multilateral table — the question is what the built environment community will bring to it. This roundtable brings together leading voices from research, policy, and practice — spanning the Global North and Global South — to ask the hard questions directly: Have the SDGs driven enough change? How do we preserve what has worked while fixing what hasn't? Could a next generation of goals evolve into a genuine, interconnected system — one that explicitly links built environment actions to both an improved SDG architecture and to emerging frameworks like the "safe and just" operating space? Or is a more fundamental rethink needed? There are no pre-packaged answers here. The session is designed as an open, generative conversation — and your voice is part of it. You can contribute before the session, too. Until 10 June, share your view on one priority research and innovation topic, and one policy or practice topic, that could truly propel the transition toward a more sustainable built environment. The agenda for the next decade is still being written — and this is one of the rooms where it starts. Join us. [1] UN Pact for the Future, https://www.un.org/en/summit-of-the-future/pact-for-the-future
Meeting Point: Registration Desk (Level 1, MCEC)
End Point: Federation Square
Experience Melbourne’s sustainable evolution through our curated site visits. Designed specifically for WSBE26 delegates, the route highlights impactful urban projects, from Southbank’s innovative green facades to carbon-neutral designs in the CBD.
This guided walk offers a practical look at Melbourne’s sustainability goals in action, providing a relaxed setting to see key sites first hand while networking with fellow delegates.
Essential information: https://www.wsbe26.org/site-visits
FULL PAPERS
Please note: An asterisk (*) at the beginning of an abstract title indicates that the presentation is based on a full paper.