Join Research Director Billie Faircloth at the annual Build Reuse conference for our session Scaling Reuse Through Heritage Knowledge and Policy Innovation.

Thursday, November 19, 11:00-12:00

Across cultures and geographies, heritage buildings and traditional construction practices embody generations of knowledge about how to use materials carefully, extend building lifespans, and adapt to changing conditions. These approaches offer proven models for building and materials reuse, but are often overlooked in contemporary practice, which remains focused on new construction and linear material flows.

This session draws on the Decarbonizing the Built Environment through Heritage (DBTH) initiative, a program of the Climate Heritage Network and part of the Imagining Futures project. DBTH brings together global case studies, applied research, and policy analysis, culimating in a practical toolkit to help design professionals, policymakers, and advocates accelerate the uptake of building and materials reuse.

Rather than treating reuse as a purely technical problem, this session highlights how different regions have developed distinct, place-based approaches to stewardship of existing buildings and materials. Presenters will draw on global case studies to show how cultural practices, traditional materials, and local construction techniques support long-term durability, adaptability, and material circularity. These examples demonstrate both what transfers across contexts and what must remain locally grounded.

The session will also emphasize the role of policy in accelerating uptake. Drawing directly from the DBTH toolkit, presenters will outline a set of policy levers that enable reuse in practice, including embodied carbon regulation, deconstruction and material recovery requirements, adaptive reuse incentives, and heritage policy frameworks. The discussion will focus on how these levers interact across jurisdictions and how design professionals can help shape them to support broader adoption.

Participants will leave with a clearer understanding of how heritage knowledge expands the possibilities for building and materials reuse, how global examples can inform local action, and how to apply emerging policy tools and the DBTH toolkit to accelerate reuse in their own work.