Speaker
Description
One of the main issues with applying Circular Economy (CE) principles to the construction sector sits at the End-of-Life (EoL) of buildings. How to recover the materials and then how to reintroduce them into the economy, are fundamental problems that lack immediate solutions. The status quo in the EoL of buildings has always been demolition followed by deposition at a landfill (linear economy), thus, to change this approach, there is the need to replace demolition with deconstruction. This causes new problems, as buildings vary greatly, there is a need for pre-demolition audits, that can report on the recoverable materials, potential generated waste, and plan the deconstruction intervention. Here, new problems arise, such as the lack of methodologies to intervene or skilled labour that makes deconstruction possible. However, at that point, even when materials are recovered there is the problem of how to reintroduce those materials back into the market. Here, digital platforms can bridge that gap, making it possible for the recovered materials to be posted in a marketplace where the designers of new buildings (or building renovations) can access the circular materials available to introduce into their designs. Thus, this paper aims to present a possible solution to the problem of introducing CE into the built environment, proposing pre-demolition audits, digital platforms, and labour upskilling as enablers for a greener future.
| Keywords | Circular economy, pre-demolition audits, digitalization, deconstruction |
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| Topics | Circular Economy |
