Journal 4 Earth Cycle

The Earth Cycle partnership has been a leader for the past five years in the domain of earthen construction. The Ile-de-France region was associated to the project. A financial contribution of 200 000 Euro was allocated and paid, and the communication of the region demonstrates a will to continue the support to the project. Since the end of the project, no major initiative comes from any local authority. Initiatives now are coming from the private sector and some developers. Some other local authorities are concerned by the earthen construction, but there is a major difficulty of taking the leadership regarding this innovation.

Since the last participation of mayor of Sevran in the last steering committee (21/10/2021) and his will to be the regional leader for earthen construction, no initiative was taken. Probably this is related to the economic model of the factory. Private companies are involved and a potential conflict of interest is possible. The legal tools seem to not fit well for a model integrating private companies and the municipality. This interpretation is not really convincing! Also, probably the financial risks are important for a local authority to invest in an innovative project like the factory. These hypotheses are based on the observations of the expert.

Regarding the private sector, the vision is different. The collective spirit characterized the relations between the private investors. The creation of the cooperative company was very promising for the commercial development.
The present financial difficulties, related to the gap between the production cost and the market demand, of the cooperative company might generate the departure of investors. In this case the challenge is important to find new actors. The coming years are important to keep Earth Cycle position as a major actor of the earthen construction. We think that the upcoming period (4-5 years) will be positive as the legal context is changing.

During the implementation, public procurement was not really an issue. As for the running of the factory and the sale of products, what was stated in Journal 2 is still relevant: public procurement might be an obstacle, as public entities which would like to encourage the use of locally-produced geo-resourced materials will still have to guarantee market competition. 

The prices of the materials are slightly higher than heavily industrialized, less environmental-friendly processes. 

Criteria of carbon and ecological footprint must be taken into consideration in procurements, for our materials to become competitive. As the French regulation has recently evolved in this matter, we are confident that public procurement won't be a problem in the years to come.

At this stage, the change of regulation taking into greater account environmental and carbon impact seems to be sufficient to balance the higher cost of materials, as long as public procurement is concerned. 

Another solution, which we designed during the project implementation but have not been able to apply yet, is to convince a public promoter to prescribe a minimum % of earthen materials in all its projects. 
    
This is currently under reflection at Grand Paris Aménagement (GPA) - it was an active member of the partnership, the systematic integration of earthen materials in its own projects had not been done yet; the change in regulations is probably also partly responsible for this change in strategy.

Regarding the duplication in other local authorities, the public procurement or the private involvement has to be defined. The advantage is that the SCIC (Société Coopérative d'Intérêt Collectif / Cooperative Society of Collective Interest), the operating company of the factory has already proven its worth, but other models stemming from the circular economy could be proposed.

In conclusion, the relation between procurement and development is close and has to be considered for the future.
 

During the implementation, Earth Cycle has taken the role of uniting many actors of earth management in the Paris region, and even France. This integrated approach allowed an involvement of all the departments in the city and even the Ile-de-France region. The project offered a shared vision. The current situation does not really involve the city of Sevran any longer. As a result, this relationship between departments does not directly or indirectly concern the continuation of the project and its development.

During the last steering committee right before the end of the project implementation, the chief of staff and the director for technical affairs in Sevran insisted on the fact that the project created an interdisciplinary approach inside the city. It was also mentioned by the representative of the Ile-de-France region that circular economy was a priority (https://www.iledefrance.fr/zero-dechet-et-economie-circulaire). But after one year of operating the role of these two public actors and their involvement in the project development is very limited.

The UIA allowed the implementation of Earth Cycle and some guarantees were given to allow the sustainability of the factory during the operating stage. The expert observed that the role of local authorities (Sevran and Ile-de-France) is very limited, especially regarding financial contribution.

During the project implementation, the main challenge on this topic was to gain support from the inhabitants, so that the construction of the factory could run smoothly and that they would feel part of the dynamic that was taking place. 

Unexpectedly, 18 months after the project start, an unfavorable report following a public survey led to a change of site of the factory. Indeed, although most people were supportive of the project, some of them were not happy with the location (in a pure NIMBY logic).

Now that the factory is running, the challenge has shifted: it is more about the inhabitants to be aware of what is going on and about young people to be aware of the new job and training opportunities.

During this first year of operation, we observed that the  SCIC promoted collective values and had a double objective: economic efficiency and a social and democratic dimension. This approach can be applied to other local authorities if needed. Regarding the social and democratic dimension, the factory recruited people with social difficulties within the city, which is a very positive element of the project.

The factory in Sevran is attracting many visitors who are involved in the circular economy. During this first year, more than 30 visits were organized. The visits of the site are promoting this construction technique. 

Also, Earth Cycle location is an industrial zone: the project is improving the image of the area and the job creation generated by Earth Cycle is highly appreciated by the population. The building design is open to the public space and will allow an important integration in the surrounding environment.
Finally, national media such as France Télévisions, Radio France and the press (Le Parisien notably) realized many articles and programs on Earth Cycle.
 

The concerns about the cost, the production pace, the quantity of treated earth, the environmental balance, the market demand, the economic model and the technical difficulties are assessed regularly.

The follow-up and the evaluation are very reliable and the data collection process is well established and managed by SCIC with a very precise reporting for each partner and stakeholder. For the first year of operation, this monitoring was very efficient and rich. The results were presented in the final qualitative report in 2022.

Since the launching of the factory, this collection of indicators is managed by the CEO of the SCIC and these KPI are important. This issue concerns the entire production chain from soil collection and characterization, transport, drying, manufacturing and distribution. The position and prospection of new clients is also seriously analyzed. It is also important to mention that the education and trainings are very positive and a new center for continuing education will be created in Sevran. Almost 30 apprentices will be trained. They will be the earth construction professionals of tomorrow. It is probably the strongest element of the project. The knowledge management system is efficient.

From the beginning Earth Cycle aroused expectations among a wide range of stakeholders, even among those not directly involved. It was one of the major urban innovations in the Paris region. The integrated circular economy system developed by Earth Cycle is presented regularly as one of the top innovations in Paris region.

When the project started, earthen construction was unknown in France, and specifically in the Paris region. The success of the project depended on the ability of the Earth Cycle team to convince target beneficiaries of the benefits of earthen materials. Thus, communication with target beneficiaries (construction companies, urban developers, architects, end users...) has been very demanding throughout the project and its results have been crucial for its implementation and long-term sustainability.

The implementation of the project has helped immensely to diffuse at least knowledge about the materials and techniques among professionals in Ile-de-France. One of the partners, Amàco, has developed effective tools to convince architects and planners including workshops with practical activities using earth. Other factors have contributed as well, at different levels (greater awareness of the scarcity of resources and of climate change, intention to relocate industrial production, emergence of a National Project on Earthen Construction called PN Terre).

Introducing a new material in the construction sector is a slow process. The diversity of the partnership has been of great help in terms of media coverage (different partners having different networks). The willingness of the partners to accept invitations for conferences and tradeshows has also been a great factor of success, as the visibility of Earth Cycle has increased over the past two years.

The conversations with target beneficiaries have been convincing thanks to the high level of expertise of the scientific partners (Amàco, CRAterre, AE&CC mostly). Finally, the results have greatly interested future users of materials.

The upscaling of this type of production unit has been a major goal of the project from the beginning. This topic was discussed deeply in journal 3. The idea behind it is that earthen construction can significantly contribute in lowering the environmental footprint and carbon emissions of the construction sector.

As the quantity of excavated soil is important in Paris region, around 30 factories, similar to the Earth Cycle one, would become necessary in the Paris region, where earthen materials should be used in a limited amount in about 20% of all construction projects. This challenge is important if we want to achieve a reliable approach regarding circular economy.

In spite of the need, the proof of the sustainability of the economic model is still to be delivered; especially as using excavated soil only makes the process less predictable and more challenging.

A project brochure entitled "A guide to the replication of Cycle Terre" (https://www.cycle-terre.eu/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Cycle-Terre-Replication-du-demonstrateur.pdf) was presented in many meetings, conferences, tradeshows, in order to get local authorities and other stakeholders interested in duplication.

The production site was open to the public twice a month, for drop-in visits; in addition to the two open visits, at least 15 reserved visits were organized each month for smaller groups, including other urban authorities.

While the project in Sevran was strongly stimulated by the urban authority, the private entrepreneurs tend to take the lead in the upscaling phase. These private developers do apply for local public funding, but the initiative is not being taken over by urban authorities. It corresponds to a more classical approach to innovation and economic development, where the public sector’s role is more to accompany than to instigate. Also, for upscaling purposes, a coordinated effort is necessary for realizing a mapping of the region, where data on geology are crossed with data on environmental concerns (absence of pollution) and suitability for construction. The certifying body (CSTB) has a major role to play in facilitating the use of excavated soil, by allowing a wider variability of raw materials to be used.

The project has planned to identify more potential clients and more projects.

Earth Cycle is a demand-driven project. This demand was low during the first year of operating but the perspectives are encouraging, supported by a significant commercial effort (and many projects are under preparation). Creating a sustainable market for the project products is going to take time. The essence of Earth Cycle is to create but also challenge the market, as it is proposing a new sustainable solution.

Another concern is the technical constraints enforced by the certification authority (CSTB) imply that soils excavated from only one geological formation can be used at the moment. For this reason, while the volumes of excavated soil are huge, only a small fraction can currently be accepted for transformation by Earth Cycle. This is also a major constraint that might impact the financial sustainability of the project.

The technical process for compressed bricks and coating is mastered. Other materials are being developed in order to increase the market scope. The produced construction materials will then be easily used by construction companies.

The business plan for the factory and the SCIC is still reasonably performant and the production pace is realistic.

From an environmental point of view, the evaluation and the integration in the green buildings of aspects like the Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) and the metabolism approach will allow an important technical readiness of the products.

The legal status of “excavated soils” is waste. Changing this status to recoverable material will impact positively the valorization approach related to the project.

The economic stakes are important; the earth construction process is now considered eco-friendly and a material of an acceptable quality integrated in the national construction material data basis (INIES).

The legislative context is very favorable to Earth Cycle.

One of the major concerns is the continuous financial involvement of the shareholders of the factory:

• The stakeholders of the SCIC have to continue their financial investment.
• The market must have a demand and this demand has to be in continuous progress.
• In addition, the knowledge management of competences of the SCIC has to be sustained.

For the upcoming years, this is in our opinion, the challenge of the management team of the SCIC.