Concular is a German climate tech company transforming the construction industry by enabling circular construction, keeping building materials in use instead of sending them to waste.
Founded in 2020 and based in Berlin, Concular operates as a digital and physical ecosystem that connects demolition projects with new construction, ensuring materials are reused rather than discarded.
00:00 – Dominic’s journey: from Google to climate tech 02:31 – The real problem: construction as a climate driver 04:46 – The economics of waste: landfill vs reuse 06:29 – How Concular works (end-to-end model) 08:47 – Can circular construction actually scale? 09:01 – Regulation as the unlock (EU perspective) 12:12 – Why construction is so slow to change 12:50 – How to drive adoption in a risk-averse industry 14:05 – The insurance insight: building trust to sell innovation 16:02 – Scaling through standards (DIN example) 17:18 – What’s next for Concular (12–24 months) 19:26 – Open knowledge & building a movement 20:30 – How to access Concular’s resources 20:40 – Call to action: what the industry needs now
From Waste to Supply Chain: The Secondary Markets for Construction Materials
Most people think aviation is one of the biggest climate problems. But the construction sector is actually responsible for ~40% of global CO₂ emissions and ~60% of global waste (aviation is around 3%).
And yet, every day, we demolish buildings, send valuable materials to landfill, and produce the same materials again. So how do we scale the secondary market for construction materials?
Circular construction depends on one thing: a functioning market where materials from old buildings can be reused in new ones.
Without that, materials get downcycled or landfilled. A functioning market is one where materials retain value, emissions drop, and costs go down.
However, there are barriers in making a functioning market.
* Supply is fragmented. Materials are hard to standardize, difficult to inventory, and time-sensitive (tied to demolition schedules).
* Trust is low in secondary materials. Buyers ask if it’s certified, who takes liability, and what happens if it fails? Trust is the real bottleneck.
* Virgin materials are too easy to procure. They are cheap, standardized, and always available. For reuse to win, it has to be better, cheaper, and lower risk.
* Coordination challenges. Construction is project-based, risk-averse, and logistically complex.
Regulation is critical for the secondary market to compete. The EU is requiring pre-demolition audits, which creates supply and CO2 limits for buildings, which creates demand. This combination creates an enabling environment that is policy-driven.
The ROI of reused materials is also becoming evident. Financial calculations must be part of the solution to be viable to construction companies:
* Cut embodied emissions by up to ~95%
* Reduce deconstruction costs by up to ~30%
* Compete with rising landfill and transport costs
Last, secondary markets require infrastructure, taking the form of digital passports to match supply and demand, material passports to track their quality and origin, and physical hubs to store, refurbish, and redistribute materials. This is causing large construction and materials companies to invest in recycling and reuse, build refurbishment capabilities, and position themselves for a circular supply chain.
Startups thus should prepare themselves to build a marketplace, not just a product. They must solve for supply aggregation, demand creation, trust (certification, insurance, guarantees), logistics and timing, and policy alignment. Concular is doing just that.
Secondary markets have a way to go. They work in pockets, but are not yet fully mature. But policy is becoming aligned, economics are improving, and infrastructure is emerging, making this an exciting space for investors and policymakers to watch.
