Evidencing the Circular Economy's Value Creation Potential in Material-Intensive Capital Projects: Identifying, Initiating, and Implementing System-Wide Circular Innovation Orchestration Across Asset Lifecycles

Public infrastructure assets, delivered via material-intensive capital projects, face growing pressure to meet net-zero targets while managing costs. Regulatory demands for 2050 net-zero prompt a rethink of value creation, as emissions persist beyond project completion and often conflict with budgets. This doctoral research proposes an alternative value creation framework in three phases. It begins with developing a Material-Focused Circular-Economy Innovation (MFCI) Framework that integrates circular economy principles into the value chain of capital project delivery. Next, it evaluates the framework's potential for value creation using hybrid material flow modelling and hotspot analysis over 100 years, based on data from England’s flood risk management projects, including 296 projects for portfolio analysis and three case studies for project-level analysis. Finally, it uses qualitative methods with paradox theory to explore tensions and barriers in the Collaborative Public–Private Supply Chain Network (CPPSCN) for orchestrating the framework. The MFCI Framework identifies sixteen feasible CE strategies that improve resource productivity and long-term value throughout the asset lifecycle. Findings reveal that uniform project-level carbon budgets are sub-optimal, masking high-impact materials and assets at the portfolio level. Project-level findings show the MFCI approach has significant potential: in a “Circular Now” scenario, material inflows decrease by 32–43%, carbon by 20–45%, costs by 10–28%, and the Benefit–Cost Ratio (BCR) increases by 2-10%. In a “Circular Future” scenario, reductions are 35–66% in materials, 40–65% in carbon, 25–53% in costs, and BCR rises 15–31%. The qualitative analysis shows that orchestrating the MFCI framework depends on integrating innovation and decision-making across material, project, and asset levels. The Source–Pathway–Receptor (SPR) analogy provides a rationale for holistic integration, with material productivity offering a performance lens for coupling material-project-asset-level interdependencies. Combining all findings, a material-focused CPPSCN design is proposed to navigate the tensions of orchestrating the MFCI framework. The thesis contributes theoretically by integrating paradox theory and circular economy into a unified orchestration framework, methodologically by combining quantitative and qualitative evidence across multiple levels, and practically by demonstrating the value-creation potential of the MFCI framework and management responses to addressing the orchestration tensions.<p></p>

Author dc:creator

• Mayank Jain (21052628)

• circular economy
• capital project
• net-zero
• project management
• network orchestration
• material-focused circular innovation
• Supply chain orchestration
• net zero paradoxes

Statement dc:rights

• All rights reserved
• Open Access after 2028-02-20

Identifier

10779/exe.31382152.v1

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:figshare.com:article/31382152