This spring, Fränk de Jong started as Program Manager for Raw Materials and Materials at Circulair Bouwend. That role seems tailor-made for him, given his background in technical business administration and, above all, as an entrepreneur. He is a creative thinker, but also quite impatient, he says himself. As a driver of acceleration, that trait comes in handy.

Entrepreneurship runs in Fränk’s blood, as is evident from his story, which he tells enthusiastically and with verve. First, he ran a deep-tech startup for over eight years; subsequently, he founded the innovation and consultancy firm The Future. With this company, which he started as a freelancer but now has eight employees, he focuses on driving cross-organisational collaborations regarding major societal issues.

Fränk: “Initially, we focused primarily on financial advice and writing grant applications, but along the way, we have broadened our services. You often see that many parties are individually working on solutions for larger issues. Like circularity, for example. But in my view, shared issues require a broad, joint approach. That is why our focus is not primarily on developing standalone projects for grant applications, but rather on embedding them within a programmatic approach.”

Can you give an example of that?

“Housing associations have the ambition not only to facilitate social housing, but also to do so healthily and sustainably. Circular construction is naturally ideally suited for this. However, circular construction is also a multi-headed monster. It requires circular policy and knowledge building regarding a great many topics. Circular solutions, for example, circular procurement, the right contractors, financing, resident participation, and much more. This knowledge is readily available, partly thanks to the large number of pilots. But only when you bring parties together, start collaborating, and learn from one another can you make faster progress together.”

What might such a collaboration look like, for example?

“The Future has taken the initiative for the CARES project. This stands for Circular Approach to Renovating Social Rental Homes. The project brings together knowledge from the market to help housing associations move forward with circular renovation. This grant application has since been selected by Interreg VLNL and is currently being further developed. CARES was our link to Circulair Bouwend. The Circulair Bouwend Zuid-Nederland program found it an interesting project and supported us with seed funding. We were also given the opportunity to introduce CARES within the network by giving a pitch during a working session.”

And so one thing led to another?

“Haha, yes, that’s how things go. We were alerted to the open position for program management for raw materials and materials hubs, and that fits so well with our approach and expertise that we applied and won the tender.”

What specific assignment were you given in that regard?

“Circulair Bouwend asked us to develop four grant projects this year. An initial assessment showed us that there are not enough grant schemes available for that on such short notice. So, I am focusing more on creating an overview, developing a roadmap, and developing projects on the roadmap. Subsequently, we will explore what financing needs exist and which scheme can contribute to this. This makes solving problems in the sector the guiding principle, rather than developing grant projects.” So here too, I am trying to accelerate the transition through programmatic embedding within shared objectives.”

How do you start an analysis of such a complex and diffuse market?

“After a quick desk research using ChatGPT, we went for a lot of coffee meetings and held Teams meetings with the various parties active in this domain.”

With ChatGPT? Is that reliable enough to base an analysis on?

“Yes and no. ChatGPT provides incredibly fast insight into the subject matter and can create a good overview of what has been published online. This offers a basis for entering into dialogue with parties in the relevant domain. But when you want to conduct future explorations and explore opportunities and possibilities, you do that together with the market parties. What does not yet exist cannot yet be found online, so AI cannot do anything with that yet. Human contact remains crucial for innovation”

Have such conversations already led to insights?

“Conversations with parties in the various material supply chains show that market demand for circular demolition as well as circular renovation and construction is still insufficiently developed. If we can drive this forward together, current chain collaborations to reuse materials will also scale up. Materials and raw material hubs can help decouple the logistics between supply and demand. However, preferably, you keep the materials within the upgrading chain as much as possible and reuse them as quickly as possible.”

How do you get such a situation moving?

“I am currently in discussions with various provinces, municipalities, housing corporations, demolition companies, and other chain partners.“

How do you get such a situation moving?

“I am currently in discussions with various provinces, municipalities, housing corporations, demolition companies, and other supply chain partners to explore whether there is support for a circular demolition deal. I am very enthusiastic about the circular deal in North Holland North and the dashboard developed there. This indicates online when a building is going to be demolished and which materials will become available. This allows potential buyers to see promptly whether and where usable materials will become available. In addition, agreements have been made regarding how demolition should be carried out, and the processing supply chain partners have been made transparent.”

“It would be great if we could set up a similar collaboration in the South of the Netherlands as well”, Fränk believes. “I have already received positive reactions to this idea from various parties. When municipalities and corporations start participating, and volumes grow, the next step is to determine whether it is best to organise logistical decoupling points around materials or regions.”

And that is just one aspect of the circular transition, Fränk points out. He lists several projects that he intends to further develop and drive forward over the coming years. For example, the accelerated digitisation and valuation of available materials in buildings using drones, image recognition, and AI. And the resubmission of the project for a Regional Materials Network. All in all, there are eight potential projects on the roadmap that Fränk developed over the past few weeks.

“I expect there are many more opportunities for acceleration,” the program manager states confidently. He is eager to map them all out and, where possible, connect them into coherent programs. For which funding can then hopefully be applied for.

Inspired?

Do you see these opportunities too? Please feel free to contact Fränk de Jong at frank.de.jong@tf-advies.nl or 06 1482 5411.