Lendager, who established his eponymous Copenhagen-based practice in 2011, is perhaps best known for his radical housing development Resource Rows and is also behind Denmark’s tallest timber building, TRÆ, a 78m-high tower in Aarhus completed last year, which combines mass timber construction with extensive use of reclaimed materials.

The architect has worked in Iceland, China, and Japan as well as Denmark and his practice has the motto ‘form follows availability’.

CircularBuild co-host Duncan Baker-Brown, a fellow architect and expert in waste materials, called Lendager’s involvement ‘fantastic news’.

He added: ‘Anders and his colleagues at Lendager have been at the forefront of circular economy practice for over 15 years … I can’t believe that CircularBuild will be his first UK public speaking event. Too good to miss!’

Lendager’s addition to the CircularBuild lineup follows the withdrawal of Dublin-based Shelley McNamara of Grafton Architects, who unexpectedly pulled out of the event last week due to an urgent work commitment.

CircularBuild 2026, which explores the cutting edge of architecture and construction in the era of climate crisis, is the new name for the AJ’s annual Retrofit Live event. The closing keynote this year will be delivered by OMA partner Reinier de Graaf, whose new book Architecture against Architecture suggests that architects give up new build entirely in favour of adapting existing buildings.

TRÆ by Lendager, Denmark’s tallest timber building in Aarhus, completed May 2025

Source: Anders Nymann Wejse

An audience of around 300 will also hear from organisations such as Landsec, Great Portland Estates, Bennetts Associates, Gothenburg and London-based White Arkitekter, Buckley Gray Yeoman, the City of London Corporation, and advocacy group Don’t Waste Buildings.

This year’s event, co-hosted by the AJ’s Will Hurst, will also feature more of a focus on regenerative and reclaimed materials and design for disassembly, as well as the adaptive reuse of existing buildings. The event will be held at Convene at 155 Bishopsgate, next to Liverpool Street Station.

Landsec will be represented by its development director, Sophie Morgan, who will discuss its ambitious new campus in London’s Bankside, Timber Square, with architect and Bennetts director Peter Fisher. The project, which delivers 34,000m2 of workspace, involves both the adaptation of a 1950s printworks into a 10-storey building and a 15-storey new-build believed to be Europe’s largest hybrid building using steel and CLT.

The Lendager-designed Høje-Taastrup Town Hall, set to start on site in 2028. When completed, it will be one of the largest adaptive reuse projects in Denmark

Source: Lendager

Another speaker will be Joel De Mobray of Yes Make and Tipping Point East in Newham, billed as the UK’s first dedicated circular construction hub. De Mobray will be discussing London’s progress in ‘closing the CircularBuild loop’ with Tessa Devreese of ReLondon.

Later in the day, he will join Baker-Brown, in an audience-led session on the practical reality of specifying circular materials at every stage of a project. Topics will include: where the decision needs to happen, how planning helps or hinders it, and what it takes to design with what is available, rather than what is ordered.

Meanwhile, major contractor Mace will be discussing its involvement in 30 Duke Street, St James’s. The project, designed by Make Architects, includes the largest reused steel frame for a commercial office in the UK, alongside reused Portland stone, granite and marble.

Mace operations director Salvatore Capotosto will give a warts-and-all account of the lessons learnt on the project and what the design process needs to look like from the outset for material reuse at this scale to be deliverable.

CircularBuild will also feature four interactive workshops in response to feedback from Retrofit Live attendees.

CircularBuild takes place on 16 September at 155 Bishopsgate, London. To view the full list of speakers and to book,
click here