Building Circular Futures in the Balkans: EU Green Week'25 Partner Event Recap + Recording

On June 10th, 2025, the Building Circular Futures: Advancing Circular Economy in Construction in the Western Balkans partner event marked a significant step in the Western Balkans’ shift toward a circular economy in the construction sector.

Co-organised by the Western Balkans Circular Economy Hub and the Horizon Europe-funded RECONMATIC project, this online session was held as part of the activities of the Circular Construction Cluster. The session brought together experts, researchers, and policymakers to explore case studies, tools, and strategies for enabling more sustainable construction practices.

The Circular Construction Cluster is an EU-funded initiative launched under the RECONMATIC project and coordinated by Future Needs. It serves as a cross-sector platform to promote collaboration between European research projects, academic institutions, industry actors, and public stakeholders working to reduce construction and demolition waste. The cluster supports the development of advanced digital and technological tools (AI, robotics, digital twins, etc.) while also advocating for new regulatory frameworks, circular business models, and the reuse of construction materials.

The cluster’s mission is to amplify impact, share best practices, and connect organisations dedicated to creating a more resilient, resource-efficient built environment. 

As part of EU Green Week 2025, the event highlighted the built environment’s critical role in climate neutrality, resource efficiency and circular development.

Event Highlights: Circularity in Action

The online session brought together a diverse group of experts to discuss how circular principles can be integrated into the construction sector across the Western Balkans.

Angelina Taneva-Veshoska, Director of the Institute for Research in Environment, Civil Engineering and Energy (IECE), opened the event by emphasising the importance of ongoing collaboration in the region’s circular transition:

“One of the topics will be circular construction—dedicated spaces to come together and discuss opportunities, where to find funding, and how to create new synergies among each other.”

This intro set the tone for a productive and forward-looking session. From the very beginning, the event encouraged participants to think not only about the challenges ahead but also about the mechanisms in place (matchmaking events, EU funding streams, local innovation hubs) that can accelerate circular construction adoption. 

Through case studies, panel discussions and innovation showcases, the event emphasised:

• The urgent need to scale circular construction practices across policy, business and education

• Real-world examples of circular design, material reuse and local innovation

• The role of digital tools, such as BIM and 3D scanning, in reducing construction and demolition waste

• Upcoming matchmaking and capacity building events to build long-term partnerships

This event marked a major step in fostering regional alignment with the EU Green Deal and the Circular Economy Action Plan, reinforcing construction’s role in climate neutrality and resource efficiency.

Spotlight on the Speakers

The event featured a dynamic line-up of speakers working across circular construction, resource management, and innovation:

• Angelina Taneva-Veshoska, (Director at IECE, Event Moderator)

• Nastasija Stojanovikj,  (Western Balkans Programme Officer, Helvetas)

• Jan Valentin, (Deputy Head of Road Structures, CTU Prague)

• Theodoros Theodosiou, (Professor, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki)

• Sanela Klarić, (MP and Professor, International BURCH University)

• Fakrush Azemi, (Founder, Kosovo Green Building Council)

• Gordana Kopilovic, (Owner at Apa Dekor Cigla)

• Alexandros Karydis-Karandreas, (Chief Legal & Governance Officer, Sporus Platform)

RECONMATIC - Driving Innovation in the construction industry

The event was jointly represented by RECONMATIC partners Dr Jan Valentin (CTU in Prague) and Prof.Theodoros Theodosiou both of whom shared insights into the project’s technical and academic contributions.  Future Needs, the project’s dissemination and exploitation leader, co-organised the event and coordinated RECONMATIC’s contribution to the session. 

Building Circular Futures in Practice

Dr. Valentin, presented RECONMATIC’s tools, pilots and approaches across Europe, including projects in Italy, Greece and the Czech Republic.

“We are really trying to cover the whole construction sector… it is important to understand we can most probably not always have one solution for everything,” 

He showcased tools such as digital audit apps, data dictionaries for materials and semi-automated 3D scanning methods:

“Instead of spending weeks getting a model, we were able to reduce this to just days - or even in some cases, hours.” 

Dr. Valentin also called for more accurate EU reporting:

“We are having nice statistics, but many of these are linked to backfilling—and I’m sure there will be broad agreement that backfilling is not really recycling.”

From robotics for fine sorting to IoT-powered skip monitoring, the RECONMATIC project is setting new benchmarks in circular innovation, combining automation, digitalisation, and system-wide thinking to drive the built environment toward zero waste.

Get Involved

With construction accounting for more than a third of all waste generated in the EU, the Circular Construction Cluster offers a timely opportunity to align innovation with climate, social, and economic goals. Interested projects, start-ups, and institutions are invited to join the growing network and follow the conversation via #CircularConstructionCluster.

To join the Circular Construction Cluster, contact egle@futureneeds.eu

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This event recap was written by Chris Aguilar, Communication and Dissemination Manager at Future Needs. Future Needs leads the dissemination and exploitation activities for business and education within the RECONMATIC project.