Pioneering Circularity in Action
Presented by Grimshaw
DETAILS
Ticketed
Grimshaw Melbourne Studio
Grimshaw Architects, Level 2/150 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne VIC, Australia
Australia maintains the highest material footprint per capita among G20 nations, while it currently achieves a material circularity rate of only five per cent. With the construction and demolition sectors generating twenty-nine million tonnes of waste annually, the industry faces an urgent mandate to transition from extractive, linear ‘take-make-waste’ models toward a regenerative, closed-loop economy.
Grimshaw presents a panel event with practitioners at the forefront of applied circularity, exploring what this systemic shift means and how designers and industry partners can play a role in fast-tracking closed-loop value creation. Facilitated by Grimshaw’s Sustainability Lead David Ritter, the panel will explore the value of circular design outcomes across a range of real-life projects, considering the relationship between demand signals and supply chains and examining the barriers and opportunities to implementing circular and bio-based outcomes. Panellists will reflect on how design excellence and industry innovation support this transition.
Panellists include Lauren Howe, Chris Hutton, Clare Fairey, Sarah D’Sylva and Derek Layfield.
The event also offers an opportunity to experience Grimshaw’s Melbourne/Naarm Studio, a tangible case study of these principles. The fit-out achieved a fifty-six per cent reduction in embodied carbon compared to business-as-usual benchmarks by using rigorous design principles to minimise the need for new materials without compromising aesthetics. The interior integrates reused furniture and building fabric with reclaimed urban salvage timber and high-recycled content cabinetry. Furthermore, the space showcases product innovation through the use of carbon-sequestering Durra Panel waste wheat straw interior walls and adaptable, modular shelving systems.
Visitors can explore the studio’s architectural models and drawings, featuring significant local Melbourne and international works. The evening offers a forum to consider the multidisciplinary and multi-stakeholder challenges and opportunities inherent in the circular design transition. Drinks and light refreshments will be served.
Participants
David Ritter
David Ritter joined Grimshaw in 2024 to lead sustainability across the ANZ region after twenty-five years as a sustainability specialist and leader working in the UK, Europe, China and Australia. He is an interdisciplinary thinker, weaving a pathway between architectural and engineering practice throughout his career. An innovator and natural collaborator, he has a firm appreciation that the existential challenge of climate change and the biodiversity emergency can only be met through industry pulling together. Through close collaboration with architectural and design technology colleagues, David has pioneered new ways of working across the practice to deliver deep carbon savings and embed circular economy thinking in design.
Lauren Howe
Lauren Howe leads Arup’s Materials team in Melbourne/Naarm, having transferred from Arup’s London office in 2020. Her career spans asset inspections, failure investigations and extending the useful life of assets, to advising on material specification, durability and sustainability across complex buildings and infrastructure projects. Over the last five years, she has focused on materials and sustainability, supporting clients to understand the embodied carbon and potential application of circular economy principles. With deep knowledge of material value chains and their environmental impacts, Lauren works to embed circular thinking and drive more resilient, resource-efficient outcomes in the built environment.
Chris Hutton
Chris Hutton is Manager, Movable Units at Homes Victoria, leading two programs that champion Modern Methods of Construction to deliver faster, smarter social housing. He began his career as an electrician before completing a mechanical and electrical engineering degree and working in automation across the manufacturing sector. A passion for the built environment steered him to leadership roles in local government with the City of Ballarat and later as Director of Engineering at Sovereign Hill Museums Association. Chris is committed to exploring how innovative design and construction can deliver better, more sustainable social housing.
Clare Fairey
Clare Fairey is a thoughtful, future-focused interior designer with a career spanning multiple sectors, both locally and internationally. This experience informs a globally aware approach that balances sustainable innovation with commercial and aesthetic viability. Her interest in the impact of considered materials and furniture, combined with a strong sense of responsibility to the people who experience these spaces now and in the future, drives her commitment to responsible design. Her human-centred approach integrates sustainability from the earliest concept, focusing on long-term wellbeing and creating intuitive, engaging and adaptable spaces that support how people move through and use them.
Derek Layfield
For more than thirty years, Derek Layfield has continually innovated and reengineered Durra Panel while continuing to manufacture in regional Victoria from waste wheat straw sourced locally from Australian farmers.Derek is passionate about changing the way the world thinks about building. By speaking transparently about Durra Panel’s cradle-to-cradle life cycle, he hopes to educate people about the natural carbon cycle, highlight greenwashing within the building industry, and encourage people to choose truly sustainable building materials.Derek’s enthusiasm for sustainability and responsible manufacturing has led to Durra Panel being installed in major projects such as airports, schools, stadiums, industrial facilities, data centres, offices and homes across Australia and internationally.
Sarah D'Sylva
Sarah is a strategic leader at the forefront of material intelligence, circular design, and sustainability storytelling. As the Co-Founder of Hyloh—a global, female-founded collective—she works across borders to help organizations transform environmental challenges into strategic opportunities.Her portfolio demonstrates a rare ability to translate sustainability into tangible industrial strategy. Her work ranges from educating architects and retail teams in the luxury and financial sectors on material fluency and storytelling, to identifying sustainable alternatives for global supply chains. Whether replacing single-use plastics in the FMCG space or engineering recyclability strategies for a multinational toy company, she consistently bridges the gap between material theory and commercial application.