Pedagogical innovations for integrating circular economy principles in built environment higher and further education.

The built environment accounts for a significant share of Europe's carbon emissions, energy consumption, virgin material use, and waste generation, positioning it as a critical sector for advancing the circular economy (CE). This paper presents a practice-based pedagogical case study within the Interreg Circular Building Trust project, which aims to integrate CE principles into higher and further education for the built environment. The study examines the ROAM project, in which students from Hanze University and Alfa College participated in distinct phases of a real-world circular economy project, including surveying donor buildings, developing material passports, designing with reclaimed materials, and prefabricating and assembling the final structure. The project achieved a reuse rate of 90% for the pavilion. Findings indicate that competency-focused engagement can develop critical CE skills such as material auditing, design for disassembly, adaptive design, and collaborative construction, while also fostering industry–education partnerships. The outcomes informed the development of the Netherlands national curriculum toolbox to embed CE in higher education and professional training.