CIRCULAR CONSTRUCTION AND URBAN REGENERATION – STAGE 2

Clients: Social housing developers consortium (including Vilogia and Lille Métropole Habitat)

Location: Greater Lille Authority, North of France

Delivered in: September 2026

 

Six years after the CIRCULAR CONSTRUCTION AND URBAN REGENERATION – STAGE 1 studies, the Méta – a consortium of public/private and local/national social housing providers* – has mainstreamed recycling in Greater Lille urban regeneration**, achieving 98% reuse of finishing materials and 100% for structural materials (concrete, brick). The then designed reusing platform was launched in Roubaix (PresRV, a highly innovative and fast-growing company).

 

La Méta wanted to assess this pioneering approach, recognised at the Social Housing Innovation Awards in 2025: what financial outcomes for social housing providers? What economic impacts for places? This first-of-its-kind study in France at this level of detail was eagerly awaited by stakeholders and the local ecosystem (national environmental and urban regeneration agencies, local authorities, think tanks, etc.), as well as by the wider French social housing community.

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Inecko established the costs and gains associated with the circular approach and evidenced economic outcomes.

 

* Vilogia, LMH, Partenord Habitat, Terre d’Opale Habitat.

** ‘New National Urban Renewal Programme’, 45 sites in Greater Lille, 2,600 homes, 450,000 t demolished.

 

Specifically, we have:

 

• Established and modelled costs and revenue of a circular approach for 3 types of housing operations (demolition, rehabilitation, construction), 2 materials flows (inflows, outflows, 18 materials for each), over two distinct periods:

  • 2020-24 review – recycling + early-stage reuse across 116 demolitions: 17% savings, i.e. 242k€ per year

  • 2027-29 projections – recycling + ambitious, ‘frontier’ reuse approach across 5,300 dwellings deconstructed/renovated/built per year: 3% savings, i.e. 416k€ per year

• Quantified and interpreted socio-economic outcomes (direct, indirect – jobs, wages, revenue, value added, local and national tax), derived local perspectives e.g. contribution to industrial employment or revenue

• Provided operational and strategic recommendations after deep-dive interviews with regional businesses (demolition, soft strip, transport/logistics, recycling, landfill, reusing/refurbishing operators, quarries, architects, consultancies), including risk analysis

• Assessed long-term regional development impacts (innovation capacities, skills, ecosystems) and advised on their enhancement

• Collected quantitative and qualitative primary data* via 35 hours of interviews with 35 respondents, follow-up outreach, and 4 online surveys (5 respondents)

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* Collected for the first time.

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And now? (as of Sept. 2026)

 

The study has just been delivered, but the gradual unveiling of results has already convinced La Méta to commit further to circular construction, and to reuse in particular (including with 'frontier' value chains), across 16 deconstruction, rehabilitation or construction operations covering 1,964 dwellings. An extension to 5,300 dwellings a year between 2027 and 2029 is under serious consideration.