Circular economy assessment using project-level and organisation-level indicators for construction organisations : a systematic review

The existing Circular Economy (CE) assessment frameworks developed in the construction context are limited due to being confined to assessing one or a few aspects of a construction project or a building, and lacking a holistic perspective. In the construction industry, the main contractor organisations play a significant role by involving in one or several phases of a construction project and directly engaging with multiple stakeholders while handling complex supply chain processes. Therefore, CE assessment in main contractor organisations significantly impacts CE implementation, improvement, and monitoring in the construction industry. Hence, this research aimed to identify CE assessment indicators specific to main contractor organisations covering construction project and organisation levels to develop a holistic and comprehensive CE assessment framework through a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) by following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) protocol. Two SLRs were conducted to achieve the aim of the study, as the majority of construction-specific articles were limited to construction project-level CE indicators, and a second review was undertaken to identify organisation-level indicators from non-construction sources. The study identified eighteen and twenty indicators at the construction project-level and organisation-level, respectively. Sixteen indicators were found to be common to both levels, while two indicators are specific to the construction projects and four indicators are specific to the organisations. The study concluded that assessing CE in main contractor organisations is complex, necessitating a comprehensive approach that addresses both construction project and organisational levels, as their interdependence is indispensable for obtaining a holistic perspective.