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About the Award

The NonHazCity 3 Building Award aimed to recognise and promote public policies that effectively reduce or eliminate hazardous substances in the construction sector.

A core objective of the award was to foster mutual learning and collaboration among countries and regions facing diverse challenges. Acknowledging this diversity, the award structure includes two distinct but equal categories: the Impact Award and the Innovation Award.

The winners were selected in May 2025 by an international jury composed of seven experts from various professional fields, including academia, environmental NGOs, a consumer association, politics, a municipal cooperation network, and a sustainable construction material assessment body.


The NonHazCity 3 Project

The Award was part of the EU Interreg Project NonHazCity 3 (2023 – 2025), organised by the World Future Council as one of the 20 partner entities. Following the vision of a city free of hazardous chemical substances, the project aimed to advance non-hazardous, circular and climate friendly construction in the Baltic Sea Region. Energy efficiency and circular building practices are pursued as complementary objectives, considering the imminent threat of climate change and that the construction sector is contributing currently around 50% of waste in many countries.

Why are hazardous chemicals in construction a problem?

Around 40,000-60,000 chemicals are in commerce worldwide. Particularly problematic are hazardous substances in construction like heavy metals and phthalates that pollute indoor-air and wind up in the environment, e.g. through stormwater run-off.

While there are innovative and scalable solutions in the construction sector, these are competing with traditional options which have previously been chosen. In moving forward, it is critical that the sound management of chemicals is strengthened in the construction sector through inclusive, effective, inspiring and innovative laws and policies to protect future generations. Today’s buildings will be dismantled by the next generations only. Therefore, the key to future circularity lies in today’s management of toxic chemicals.

Besides the Award, the WFC and other project partners jointly drafted and tested training material and toolboxes to support municipalities as well as architects, suppliers of building materials and construction companies and help spread the solutions across the entire region.

All solutions of the NonHazCity Project can be found here: @/nonhazcity-3/