Re-imagining waste, repair and retail for a circular future

The Regional Circular Economy Longford Hub (RECEL) explores a new model of circular infrastructure for Ireland. Developed by ACT in collaboration with Longford County Council, EDIC Longford, ReVamp and an interdisciplinary consultant team, the project reimagines how waste, repair, training, retail and community can come together within a single integrated destination.

The proposal builds upon more than two decades of pioneering circular economy work by EDIC and ReVamp, whose programmes in furniture restoration, recycled paint production, textile upcycling and accredited training have demonstrated the social, economic and environmental value of repair and reuse. RECEL provides the next step in that journey, creating a purpose-designed home where these activities can grow, connect and become visible to a wider public.

Rather than treating waste as an end point, RECEL explores how materials, products and even buildings themselves can remain in use for longer through repair, reuse, adaptation and circular construction.

At its core, the project asks a simple question: what if circularity was not hidden behind industrial processes, but became visible, accessible and embedded within everyday life?

A new model for the circular economy

The circular economy replaces the traditional linear model of consumption with one that keeps products, materials and resources in use for as long as possible. RECEL responds to this challenge through a first-of-its-kind hybrid Circularity Centre for Ireland. Bringing together second-hand retail, repair workshops, education, enterprise incubation and public engagement, it creates a destination where people can learn, make, repair, buy and participate in circular practices.

Inspired by pioneering European projects including ReTuna in Sweden and Yuman Village in Brussels, RECEL demonstrates how circular economy infrastructure can become both practical and civic, supporting environmental action while creating employment, skills and community value.

Closing the Loop

A defining feature of the proposal is its relationship with the neighbouring Recycling Centre. Together, the Recycling Centre and Circularity Centre form a single ecosystem, where materials become the raw resource for repair, refurbishment and resale, retaining value locally and extending the life of products that might otherwise be discarded. This co-location makes the circular economy visible. Visitors can follow materials from collection and sorting through to repair, making and retail, experiencing the full journey first-hand. By bringing waste management, education, enterprise and retail together, RECEL creates a circular system that keeps resources in use while supporting local skills and employment.

Reimagining Industrial Buildings for Circular Retail

Rather than constructing new buildings, the RECEL proposals demonstrate how existing industrial buildings can be adapted into vibrant, public-facing destinations. The concept transforms a conventional warehouse typology into an engaging retail and community environment, where repair, reuse and retail are brought together within a single visitor experience.

By retaining the existing structure and reconfiguring it around circular economy principles, the project reduces embodied carbon while giving new purpose to an underutilised industrial asset. The result is a flexible, future-ready building that illustrates how industrial spaces can become catalysts for economic activity, skills development and sustainable consumption.

Architecture Designed for Circularity

The building itself is designed as an example of circular thinking. Rather than demolishing and rebuilding, the proposal adapts existing industrial buildings, significantly reducing embodied carbon while demonstrating the value of retaining and upgrading existing assets.

A highly flexible modular timber structure is introduced within the existing warehouse. Unlike conventional construction, the structural system has been designed using Design for Disassembly (DfD) principles and employs innovative timber-to-timber connections, eliminating the need for traditional steel connection plates. This allows the structure to be dismantled, repaired, adapted or reused in the future with minimal material loss.

The building effectively becomes a material bank, designed not only for today's use but for future transformation. Circularity also informs the material palette. Existing external cladding is retained and reused wherever possible, while reclaimed materials, modular internal construction, upgraded environmental performance, solar energy generation and rainwater harvesting further reduce environmental impact. Every design decision reinforces the principle that the most sustainable building is often the one that already exists.

Making Circularity Visible

A key ambition of RECEL is to make circularity understandable and accessible. Rather than hiding repair and manufacturing processes behind industrial doors, visitors move through a sequence of workshops, retail spaces and learning environments where repair, restoration and making are fully visible.

Furniture restoration, electronics repair, textile upcycling, bicycle maintenance and community workshops are integrated alongside second-hand retail, exhibition space, cafés and education facilities. The building becomes both working infrastructure and a public learning environment, encouraging behavioural change through participation rather than instruction. The result is a place designed not simply for transactions, but for curiosity, creativity and repeat visits.

Design through Collaboration

The feasibility study was shaped through an extensive programme of workshops and stakeholder engagement involving local authorities, waste operators, circular economy organisations, social enterprises and community stakeholders.

Using ACT's Discovery, Define and Develop methodology, the project explored how circular infrastructure could support employment, enterprise, education and regional development. These conversations directly informed site selection, operational planning and the spatial organisation of the building. The process reinforced an important lesson: successful circular economies depend as much on collaboration between organisations and communities as they do on physical infrastructure.

Circularity Beyond Waste

RECEL demonstrates that the circular economy is about far more than waste reduction. The proposal creates opportunities for employment, skills development, affordable goods, enterprise incubation and community participation while reducing material consumption, embodied carbon and operational emissions.

By integrating circular construction, circular operations and circular education within one project, RECEL becomes both infrastructure and demonstration. It shows how buildings, materials and people can work together within a regenerative system that continually creates environmental, social and economic value.

Designing for a Low-Carbon Future

Alongside its circular construction approach, the building has been designed to minimise its environmental impact throughout its lifetime. Roof-mounted solar panels generate renewable electricity, while rainwater harvesting reduces demand for mains water. Generous rooflights maximise natural daylight within the central hall, creating bright, welcoming spaces while reducing the need for artificial lighting.

A mix of conditioned and semi-conditioned spaces also helps lower operational energy demand by matching environmental performance to how different areas of the building are used. Together, these strategies create a more resource-efficient building that demonstrates how retrofit can deliver both environmental and operational benefits.

A Blueprint for Circular Infrastructure

Although developed specifically for Longford, RECEL has national relevance. The project demonstrates how adaptive reuse, innovative structural design, co-location with recycling infrastructure and community enterprise can be brought together within a single circular ecosystem. Rather than viewing recycling, repair, construction and education as separate activities, RECEL integrates them into a holistic model that can be replicated elsewhere.

It shows that circularity is not simply about recycling materials. It is about redesigning systems, buildings and everyday experiences to keep resources in use, strengthen communities and create long-term resilience. In doing so, RECEL offers a blueprint for the next generation of circular economy infrastructure in Ireland.