Research on reusing construction material in India wins 2026 RIBA Norman Foster Travelling Scholarship

The Royal Institute of British Architects has awarded the 2026 RIBA Norman Foster Travelling Scholarship to University of Bath student Yukta Chegu. The recognition was given for Chegu’s research project examining construction material reuse systems in India.

Chegu’s winning proposal, Rubble Futures: Mapping India’s Informal Salvage Economies as Blueprint for Global Circular Construction, will investigate methods for recovering, reusing, and recirculating materials from construction and demolition activities. The research will focus particularly on Bangalore, alongside fieldwork in other major Indian cities.

Through a program combining orientation, field research, and analysis, Chegu will examine how informal salvage economies operate in practice and assess their potential relevance to construction practices elsewhere. The project will consider how approaches developed within Indian cities could inform efforts to establish more circular systems of material use in the United Kingdom and...