Leeds-led initiative paves way for sustainable rebuilding in post-conflict Ukraine

A new project aims to radically transform the rebuilding of post-conflict Ukraine, accelerating its recovery while helping to ensure that reconstruction is more eco-friendly.

Safe, Sustainable, and Swift Reconstruction of Ukraine (S3RoU), led by a consortium of British, Ukrainian, and Dutch organisations – including the University of Leeds – sets out to upcycle the war-ravaged country’s rubble into green building materials.

It is hoped that by sharing Western European expertise with leading Ukrainian organisations, the scheme will hasten its recovery and contribute to a greener future, both in Ukraine and beyond.

Around 150,000 buildings and structures are thought to have been lost in the ongoing conflict. The scale of its restoration is daunting and will require a huge amount of materials.

Circular economy

Professor Theodore Hanein, Chair of Construction Materials Science in the School of Civil Engineering at Leeds, and S3RoU’s technology lead, said: “We hope this project will be transformative for the people of Ukraine, both now and for future generations, making the Ukrainian economy more resilient, more self-reliant, and more environmentally friendly.

“By recycling rubble into low-energy and low-carbon construction materials, manufactured in a responsible, resilient, and sustainable manner, we will create a circular economy. We will develop technologies that can be used globally in post-conflict and end-of-life infrastructure reconstruction, as well as to help all parts of the world affected by disasters such as earthquakes and floods.” 

The venture will also provide fundamental awareness-raising among the Ukrainian people about the dangers of asbestos – widespread in the country’s civil infrastructure and therefore likely to be present in the rubble – as well as the benefits of recycling. 

We hope further work will build on this, to help all parts of the world affected by destruction.

The cost of rebuilding Ukraine is estimated to be hundreds of billions of pounds. The project recognises that reducing that figure, as well as ensuring the work is conducted in a sustainable manner, is imperative.

The global construction industry faces challenges to minimise its environmental footprint practically from cement production, as well as managing demolition waste.

Traditional practices often lead to low-grade reuse of rubble, such as backfill or landscaping, which waste valuable resources and compromise environmental benefits. S3RoU aims to rethink this process by deploying and testing a decentralised production line. This innovative system upcycles rubble into high value, low-energy and low-carbon construction materials.

Global benefits 

The presence of legacy asbestos in the rubble, as well as non-traditional concrete, makes using it particularly challenging but the project will separate the problematic materials and ensure the safe use of conventional concrete. This will not only help address a potentially significant health issue but will also generate knowledge that is useful for global health. 

We hope this project will be transformative for the people of Ukraine, both now and for future generations.

Leeds will be responsible for thermochemistry experiments to understand the potential of closed-loop recycling of concrete from construction and demolition waste; using demolition waste to produce new cement and performing advanced materials characterisation on recycled materials; as well as hosting Ukrainian academics here at the University, where they can use state-of-the-art equipment not available to them in their home country. 

The project’s other key areas of innovation include rapid identification and assessment of rubble suitable for recycling; mobile equipment for on-site rubble separation; optimisation of processes for recycling separated components; and public awareness campaigns about gender inclusion, social awareness, the dangers of asbestos, and the benefits of using resources previously considered a waste. 

Resilient supply chain 

Leon Black, Professor of Infrastructure Materials at Leeds, said: “Not only will this project aid the redevelopment of post-conflict Ukraine, it will do so ensuring a resilient material supply chain, while promoting a low-carbon, circular economy approach to infrastructure. We hope further work will build on this, to help all parts of the world affected by destruction.”

The University is the scheme’s technological lead and will focus on manufacturing clinker – a critical component in cement production; cement manufacturing, concrete characterisation and testing, and recycling and reusing post-conflict waste so as to maximise economic and environmental value, as opposed to conventional approaches of reusing demolition waste in low-value applications.

Four Ukrainian organisations are partners on the project: Lviv Polytechnic National University; National University of Water and Environmental Engineering; Eco+Logic and ReThink NGO. Other collaborators include the University of Sheffield, University of Oxford, Imperial College London and C2CA.

The programme was selected by the InnovateUkraine competition and FCDO and funded by a £16m investment from the UK government.

Further information

• For more information about the S3RoU project, visit https://www.circular-concrete.in.ua/.
• For more information or to arrange interviews, email press officer Deb Newman via d.newman@leeds.ac.uk.
• Image: Apartment building in the Kyiv region, destroyed in the Ukraine war. Credit: Adobe Stock.