Building Circularity MN is a Hennepin County-led collaboration focused on helping Minnesota designers and building owners increase circularity and reduce waste on construction and renovation projects. The two-year initiative is funded by a grant from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency with the goal of growing Minnesota’s reuse economy.
Why
Commercial building projects generate a lot of construction and demolition waste – over twice the amount of household trash generated in the United States every year. Nearly 75% of landfilled building materials have the potential to be reused.
Diverting this material to reuse in Minnesota could generate millions of dollars in new economic opportunity. Additionally, the building sector accounts for nearly 40% of global carbon emissions, with the manufacturing of construction materials contributing at least 8% of this total.
Project-level technical assistance for owners, architects, and designers
Building Circularity MN is a Hennepin County-led collaboration, offering technical assistance to property owners, architects, developers, and design teams at no cost to the project team, to support the specification and implementation of reused materials on commercial building projects.
Design assistance services available at no cost to the project team
- Technical assistance for design teams.
- Individualized coaching of project teams using the Project Manager’s Guide to Material Reuse in Commercial Buildings (PDF).
- Draft specification language or review of specification language.
- Connect teams to reclaimed material suppliers.
Material reuse assistance for property owners
- Facilitate discussions on building material reuse.
- Work collaboratively to understand opportunities and barriers to reuse.
- Provide tailored education on reuse strategies to specific project teams.
Eligible project types
- New construction and renovation.
- Project types must follow the International Building Code (IBC).
- Minnesota B3 projects. The B3 program management team offers guidance and technical assistance to support projects pursuing the B3 guidelines in specifying reused materials to meet multiple B3 guidelines:
- M.1 Life Cycle Assessment
- M.2 Environmentally Preferred Materials
- M.3 Waste Reduction and Management
Building Circularity Enterprises MN
Training program for reuse entrepreneurs
Building Circularity Enterprises MN is a training program for business owners and entrepreneurs interested in reclaiming and reselling commercial building materials. The program is both training and accelerator, with the goal of helping participants start or expand a building material reuse business in Minnesota.
Dates: Fall 2025 through summer 2026 delivered in-person and virtually
Details
- Program participants will learn how to navigate the complex world of reclaimed materials in commercial design and construction.
- Features 40+ hours of training, including face-to-face meetings with architects and contractors, building walkthroughs, and handling and working with real building products.
- Mentoring and support for entrepreneurs in developing their reclaimed building material business models and sales approach.
Eligibility
- Must be passionate about reducing needless waste of great building materials, and redirecting material flows into new projects.
- Must be at least 25 years of age.
- [Resident status requirement?].
- Participants do not need to be a resident of Hennepin County or Minnesota, but must be willing to travel to Hennepin County for all in-person trainings.
- Hennepin County encourages participation by persons of diverse backgrounds and experiences, and can provide financial assistance based on circumstance.
A maximum of 20 participants will be selected based on the application process. Applications will be available summer 2025.
To receive an email when applications are available, sign up here: [working on Microsoft Form sign-up form to be linked here]
Resources
- Project Manager’s Guide to Material Reuse on Commercial Building Projects (PDF) and appendix documents (as downloadable PDFs). Include fillable form to submit feedback and/or sample specifications.
- Case studies
- Other Hennepin County programs/grant opportunities (building reuse grants, ERF grants, waste prevention grants, Elevate Hennepin)
- All for Reuse (ecosystem map)
About
- Background on Project Manager’s Guide to Material Reuse on Commercial Building Projects and MPCA grant
- Partners – team and bios
- Project goals
Events
- Attend the national Build Reuse conference in St. Paul, August 4-6, 2025
- AIA MN conference (November 3-5, 2025)
- Upcoming webinars
- Recordings of past webinars
