DEVELOPMENT OF THE ENVIRONMENT REGISTER

Author: Joran Straatman, Circular Economy advisor, Cirkelstad partner at KplusV

WHAT IS THE ENVIRONMENT REGISTER AND WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

Have you heard about the Environment Register, yet? Late last year, Cirkelstad and Madaster won a competition in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area (MRA) that served as the starting point for the development of this register. They are currently working together on its further development, about which I would like to tell you a little more. The Environment Register is a platform that makes a positive contribution to our society and facilitates the transition to a circular economy by providing access to information about the resources and materials applied in our physical environment. The register provides physical insight into the life cycles of the resources and materials applied in buildings.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN, SPECIFICALLY?

Take, for example, a city such as Amsterdam, where the Environment Register can provide companies, knowledge institutes and government authorities with insights into details about various elements in the city, such as about their number (e.g. bridges, park benches and lampposts) as well as the individual components in each element and their year of construction. In this way, for the physical environment, the Environment Register can make a substantial contribution to area development, it can monitor impact and provide other insights based on linked data sources that can stimulate innovation.

WHAT HAVE WE BEEN DOING UP TO NOW?

Recently, we have been working on a Webinar, with the aim of creating a coalition with parties who can contribute to the development of the Environment Register, for example, through the availability of data systems that can be applied in the built environment. The invited parties, including engineering firms, government authorities, building contractors and knowledge institutes, were approached from the perspective that the development of the Environment Register will not only take place in the MRA region, but also in other parts of the Netherlands.

During the Webinar, Cirkelstad and Madaster shared their vision on the development of the Environment Register. Attention was paid to its functional design and future application possibilities. Subsequently, it was important that participants indicated how they would like to be involved in the development of the Environment Register. The retrieval of this information has led to further communications with a number of parties within and outside the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area about the added value that they could have for the Environment Register.

The register was developed both parallel and prior to the Webinar, with functional specifications being determined, an initial impetus given to application possibilities and a separate technical environment being set up for the Environment Register. A large number of potential data sources were identified and analysed and the basic structure of the operation of the Environment Register was established. Madaster, as the first data source, was also adapted to enable linking to the Environment Register.

In the coming period, we would like to keep you informed about the further development of the Environment Register via the Madaster newsletter. If you have any questions, or if you think you can contribute to the development of the Environment Register, please feel free to contact Niels Ahsmann: n.ahsmann@kplusv.nl, +31 (0)6 294 89 508.