The Territorial Circular Center (TCC) for South-Eastern Europe, envisaged to be established within the MOBICCON-PRO project, was officially launched during a public event, held in Sofia on May 25th, 2023. The international conference entitled ”Innovative Solutions for Circular Construction” took place at the University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy (UACEG) and gathered 70 representatives of various institutions and organizations – industry, academia, local and public authorities, SMEs, sectoral associations, Bulgarian construction companies, manufacturers of building materials and construction products, innovator’s community.
The conference was officially opened by Albena Angelova, Executive Officer of Glavbolgarstroy Holding who pointed out that the construction sector is generating more than a third of all waste generated in the EU and underlined the importance of the MOBICCON-PRO project, which will develop and introduce innovative circular solutions to recover resources from construction and demolition waste (CDW) and decrease consumption of raw construction materials by production of high-level recycled and innovative construction materials.
Assoc. Prof. Roumiana Zaharieva, Head of Department in the Faculty of Structural Engineering, Building Materials and Insulations of UACEG and Yasen Georgiev, Executive Director of the Economic Policy Institute also welcomed the audience and pointed out the importance of the topic for circularity in the construction sector and the CDW management.
During the conference Domenico Campogrande, Director General of FIEC presented the current trends and best practices in circular construction at European level. Assoc. Prof. Roumiana Zaharieva provided some advices for improving resource efficiency in the construction sector, while Dr. Stefania Butera, Senior Specialist at the Danish Technological Institute presented to the audience what are the Danish best practices for selective demolition. The innovative project MOBICCON-PRO was presented in more details by the project coordinator Plamena Nenkova, who is also Deputy Executive Director “Strategies, Communications & International Affairs” in Glavbolgarstroy Holding. The final panelist Björn Koopmans, Expert Regional Development & EU Projects at IDEA Consult elaborated on the concept and the key success factors for developing a Territorial cluster as a European circular hub, thus providing opportunity for regional cooperation between industry and society.
At the end of the event the establishment of the Territorial Circular Center (TCC) for South-Eastern Europe was officially announced and the Consortium of the MOBICCON-PRO project, represented by GBS signed Memoranda of Cooperation with the following organizations/ institutions:
- Bulgarian Construction Chamber (BCC);
- Bulgarian Green Building Council (BGBC);
- Investment Council to the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry;
- Samokov Municipality;
- Slivnitsa Municipality;
- Kostinbrod Municipality.
Other organizations that are expected to recently join the TCC are the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) and the Bulgarian Association of Construction Project Management – BACPM.
The MOBICCON-PRO Consortium also announced during the event that every organization with expertise, commitment and/or interest, in the field that would like to join the Territorial Circular Centre (TCC) would have the possibility to do this by fulfilling the specially elaborated form for membership on the MOBICCON-PRO project website.
The Territorial Circular Centre aims to serve as an innovative hub, gathering all concerned key stakeholders in the field of CDW management in Bulgaria and South-Eastern Europe.
The Territorial Circular Center will provide a physical congress space for public events, roundtables, experts’ gatherings and meetings, where all stakeholders are kindly invited and welcome to take active participation. The TCC will be physically located during the first two years of the project at the GBS headquarters in Sofia (Bulgaria) and then at the GBS plot in the suburbs of Sofia – Kremikovtsi.
The TCC will offer a virtual and physical platform for exchange of knowledge, ideas and networking on key issues related to CDW treatment, reuse, legislative environment and societal participation, as well as on many other topics of interest to the citizens, the industry and the public authorities.
