Facilitating Future Material and Component Recovery

Design-for-disassembly strategies can result in 10-50% reductions in life-cycle impacts.

“Design for disassembly” and modular construction facilitate selective deconstruction. These methods can extend the longevity of building components and enable dismantling at the end-of-use. Because the value of these building elements is retained, they can easily be reused (Keena and Dyson 2020). Studies show that design-for-disassembly strategies can also result in 10-50 per cent reductions in greenhouse gas emissions compared to conventional construction (Keena et al. 2022). However, challenges can arise in earthquake-prone regions, where secure building joints are needed. To overcome such challenges, governments can support research for new design-for-disassembly systems and recovery methods, such as the re-use of reinforced concrete as a structural element with the need to address seismic resistance.

Digitalisation to Support Design for Disassembly

Digitalisation to support prefabrication and modular construction can reduce waste by 23-100%.

Digitalisation – such as three-dimensional building information model technologies – can help with the design and fabrication of the complex connecting components required in design for disassembly. It can also help minimise material waste during construction by resolving issues before materials land at a worksite. Digitalisation to support prefabrication and modular construction has been proven to reduce waste by 23-100 per cent (Jaillon, Poon and Chiang 2009; Lu and Yuan 2013; Chen, Msigwa et al. 2022).
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Building information modelling is a digital solution that can be applied to all building types. However, for smaller and less-complex buildings, it may be simpler to use a building passport. A building passport is a whole life-cycle repository of building information – a digital description of a building. It covers a building’s administrative documentation as well as data regarding its site and location, its technical and functional characteristics, and its environmental, social and financial performance (GlobalABC and UNEP 2021). Building passports can play a role by creating a data repository that tracks material changes, maintenance and repair that have occurred in a building over time.