‘At Madaster, we consider ourselves pioneers of the circular economy. We are therefore all the more pleased that the topics of sustainable construction, industrial reuse and urban mining are attracting increasing interest and support from the industry. This award confirms that we have outgrown our start-up status,’ says Dr Patrick Bergmann, Managing Director of Madaster Germany.

Madaster was founded in 2017, in the Netherlands, as a non-profit foundation with the aim of realising a global registry of materials. Its initiator is the internationally recognised architect and pioneer of the circular economy, Thomas Rau, who founded the platform with the support of leading players from the construction industry. In addition to Belgium, Norway, Austria, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, Madaster has also been active in Germany since the beginning of 2020. The platform offers those involved in real estate development and construction the possibility of uploading all object-specific information on the materials and resources used in their properties to a central digital library. These data are then automatically supplemented with manufacturer and product information, so that all materials are given their own identity with their particular characteristics. For each building, an individual material passport is generated from these data.

This not only provides the owners with a digital twin of their properties, but also gives them insight into the recyclability, toxicity, composition and CO2 footprint of each property and the related circularity potential. In the event of deconstruction or refurbishment, the data can be used to identify specific raw materials or products that become available and thus can be returned to the closed-loop of material resources.

The focus is on the company’s own vision on giving materials an identity and, thus, making them infinitely available.

DNP – Award with charisma

Every year, the German Sustainability Award (DNP) honours players who are driving the transformation towards a better, more sustainable future through their ecological and economic activities. The category of the construction industry focuses on pioneers who successfully combine the construction transformation and the circular economy in a future-oriented way.