A consortium (BE/NL/GE) is looking for expertises in circular economy, decarbonation of materials and/or large underground infrastructure construction to join an Interreg NWE project

Short summary For a North West (NWE) interreg project, a consortium (BE/NL/GE) is looking for non-academic partners (companies, economic develop agencies) active in circular economy, decarbonisation of materials, construction of large underground infrastructure (metro, ...) Eligible partners should be located in the Interreg North Western areas covering France, Belgium, Luxemburg, Switzerland, Netherlands, Ireland & Germany. Cf map in attachment.

Full description NWE is heavily urbanized & densely populated. Such strong urbanization has negative effects on environment & people. The development of large underground infrastructures (for transport, storage, energy harvest) in NWE has the potential to preserve a high density of green infrastructures & minimize environmental impact while promoting an efficient use of resources & space. The objectives of the project are : 1) Demonstrate the environmental & socio-economic benefits for NWE of circular design in large scale underground infrastructures and integrating circular economy concepts. 2) Develop decision making support tools based on informed underground building information models, re-using excavated materials & water, & harvesting underground thermal energy. 3) Implement ecoproducts & ecomaterials in a circular way to preview the deconstruction of infrastructure. This will be demonstrated on a large-scale underground infrastructure: the Einstein Telescope. The project is aiming for these results/impacts : 1) Deliver solutions such as digital twins of the underground infrastructure integrated within the natural environment, processes to re-use mucking materials & groundwater, harvest geothermal energy at the scale of a unique pilot study (delivering a tremendous opportunity with a unique database). 2) Strategies to be implemented for such solutions to be uptaken by stakeholders & accepted by local communities, together with training & education for long term goals. 3) Using all excavated materials in local and circular loops within a Net or Low Carbon Strategy, economical approach. 4) Scale-up of the current circular ecosystem in (underground) construction. The present core of the consortium is composed of scientists, Business Development Agencies BDA and companies. They are mainly looking for non academic partners France, Belgium, Luxemburg, Switzerland, Netherlands, Ireland & Germany) with an expertise in underground materials & groundwater reuse and/or underground construction (companies, BDA…). The expertise and ambition should focus on socio-economic impacts & integration of business models with a focus on green infrastructure & circular economy. They also seek citizen groups in order to generate societal benefits of such projects

Technical Specification or Expertise Sought 1) Deliver solutions such as digital twins of the underground infrastructure integrated within the natural environment, processes to re-use mucking materials & groundwater, harvest geothermal energy at the scale of a unique pilot study (delivering a tremendous opportunity with a unique database). 2) Strategies to be implemented for such solutions to be uptaken by stakeholders & accepted by local communities, together with training & education for long term goals. 3) Using all excavated materials in local and circular loops within a Net or Low Carbon Strategy, economical approach. 4) Scale-up of the current circular ecosystem in (underground) construction.
Contact / source: NEXT EEN Widgets (europa.eu)