The Alliance for Sustainable Building Products (ASBP) has responded to the UK Government’s Call for Evidence on Digital Product Records (DPRs), highlighting the significant opportunity they present for advancing circular construction and improving product traceability across the built environment.
ASBP supports the development of Digital Product Records as a tool to improve transparency, compliance, sustainability, and resource efficiency. However, the organisation emphasises that DPRs must be designed to support the entire lifecycle of construction products, including repair, refurbishment, deconstruction, and reuse, rather than focusing solely on new products and end-of-life management.
The response stresses that construction products often remain in use for decades and may undergo multiple cycles of installation, maintenance, recovery, and reuse. ASBP therefore recommends that DPRs function as a long-term “product memory”, retaining information on product composition, performance, maintenance history, condition, and suitability for future reuse.
A key theme of the response is interoperability. ASBP calls for close alignment between Great Britain, Northern Ireland, and EU systems to avoid duplicate reporting requirements and unnecessary costs, particularly for SME’s and advocates a common data architecture, shared terminology, and persistent product identifiers that allow information to travel with products throughout their lifecycle.
While recognising the potential benefits of DPRs, ASBP warns against creating disproportionate administrative burdens. The response highlights the need for clear guidance, standardised data formats, practical implementation timelines, and flexibility for reused products where original manufacturer data may no longer be available.
ASBP also argues that DPRs could play a major role in reducing waste, increasing product reuse, supporting responsible sourcing, improving confidence in sustainability claims, and helping retain the embodied value of construction products. The response recommends integrating DPRs with existing industry tools and initiatives such as BIM, material passports, building logbooks, and reuse marketplaces to create a connected information ecosystem for the built environment.
Through its response, ASBP calls for a proportionate, interoperable and circularity-focused approach to Digital Product Records that supports both environmental objectives and practical adoption across the construction sector.