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Construction and Building: online register with building and infrastructure material/parts/products for reuse/circular use

The built environment industry mostly follows a linear economy model: from extraction of non-renewable virgin materials, through manufacturing and constructing, to disposal in landfills. Registration and documentation of products and materials used in the built environment can help the transition to a circular economy, encouraging their reuse and eliminating waste, thus reducing the negative environmental footprint of the building sector [2]. 

 

Online Material and/or Building Registries are a new approach to the concept of “Buildings as Material Banks”. The idea of “Buildings as Material Banks” is based on material identity; all materials and components in the building are documented and updated when renovation/upgrading occurs. Typically, the documentation can be stored in a Building Information model (BIM). Online registries can and should include statistical and measured specification, performance data gathered from manufacturers, certifiers and verifiers, as well as sensors, inspections and measurements. This data, usually collected in Material and/or Buildings Passports, can be both an input to and an output of Building Information Modelling (BIM), Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and other types of certifications, such as Environmental Product Declarations (EPD), financial incentives frameworks (including smart insurance), multi-criteria evaluation models, policy development (including open data web platforms), and deconstruction/reuse processes. 

Concept of the material and component bank [1]

 

A key barrier to the viability of secondary construction material markets is logistics. By creating digital and physical platforms to coordinate efforts, cities can accelerate private actors’ contributions to a circular construction sector. A main concern is accessing information on materials with potential to be a resource or input to other processes. 

 

A material passport includes digital data, such as the history of building materials, the extent to which building components can be reused, how this can be done, and  the potential for recycling and biodegradation. Digital data can be implemented also in BIM (Building Information Models), which can be adopted in the design phase serving for the whole life cycle, or can be created for existing buildings, based on data capture, building surveys, and pre-existing information [2]. 

 

The material and component bank organizes the transfer of materials and components, which are extracted from demolished or deconstructed structures and which can be used in new ones. The bank helps the sustainable planning of demolition and deconstruction, extraction and collection of recyclable and reusable materials and components, as well as assessment and improvement of quality [1]. 

Main businesses of material and component bank [1] 

 

The challenge of managing and evaluating the amounts of data required is best met through digital tools. Sophisticated digital tools such as BIM-supported Material and Building Passports collected in online open-source registries can support decision-making for circularity from the planning phase, through the building use phase, including retrofit cycles, and up to the disassembly and end of (first) life. The newest approach is to include also the building residual value to the material bank information. This helps understand the financial value of the existing material and encourages recycling. 

 

There is an informational and communicational gap between supply and demand projects. For example, research and building data are decentralized and scattered throughout all types of mediums. To help bridge these gaps, the BAMB project created a geospatial mapping and a BIM (Building Information Model) system.  

 

MATURITY:  

 

Most of the registries are in pilot phase. For instance:  

  • The Assen municipality in the Netherlands compared three scenarios for their circular development: 1) flexible ‘zero-on-the-meter’ new buildings, 2) reuse from former industrial areas, and 3) the redevelopment of the city centre. The indicators compared were climate change (CO2 emissions), the Environmental Cost Indicator (ECI) score, inclusive employment, material costs, knowledge development in the region, and the value of housing. The city municipalities used the results to support their decision-making [8]. 

  • The Amsterdam metropolitan region compared the effects of the circular building. The focus was on logistics and the use of land. In the area, 250 000 homes and utility buildings will be built in the next 20 years. The results showed high impact of circular economy solutions, 25% of the new homes could be built with used materials [8]. 

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Circular economyClimate resilienceWasteAnalytics and modellingBuildingMaterials
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