Reusing concrete panels from buildings for building: Potential in Finnish 1970s mass housing

Huuhka, Satu; Kaasalainen, Tapio; Hakanen, J.H.; Lahdensivu, Jukka

doi:10.1016/j.resconrec.2015.05.017

Cited by 48 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…These processes are justifiably well-covered in the literature (e.g., [61][62][63]). Options for the viable recovery of component function, by contrast, remain limited [57,64,65].…”

Section: Maintaining and Enhancing Utility Of Removals From Stockmentioning

confidence: 99%

From Waste Management to Component Management in the Construction Industry

Rose

Stegemann

2018

Sustainability

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Abstract:The construction industry uses more resources and produces more waste than any other industrial sector; sustainable development depends on the reduction of both, while providing for a growing global population. The reuse of existing building components could support this goal. However, it is difficult to reclaim components from demolition, and materials remain cheap compared with labour, so new approaches are needed for reuse to be implemented beyond niche projects. This study therefore reviews waste interventions. Multiple case studies, spanning new builds and refurbishment, were undertaken to examine systemic mechanisms that lead to components being discarded. Evidence from fieldwork observations, waste documentation, and interviews indicates that the generators of unwanted components effectively decide their fate, and a failure to identify components in advance, uncertainty over usefulness, the perception of cost and programme risk in reclamation, and the preferential order of the waste hierarchy mean that the decision to discard to waste management goes unchallenged. A triage process is proposed to capture timely information about existing building components to be discarded, make this information visible to a wide community, and determine usefulness by focusing creativity already present in the industry on an exhaustive examination of component reusability and upcyclability.

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“…These processes are justifiably well-covered in the literature (e.g., [61][62][63]). Options for the viable recovery of component function, by contrast, remain limited [57,64,65].…”

Section: Maintaining and Enhancing Utility Of Removals From Stockmentioning

confidence: 99%

From Waste Management to Component Management in the Construction Industry

Rose

Stegemann

2018

Sustainability

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“…Most investigations have focused on the reuse of metal elements. Ideas for reusing concrete panels from the walls of pre-fabricated buildings have been proposed [87], but potentials and issues are not yet well understood. A case study of reusing steel components, Pongigilione and Calderini [88] describe the construction of a railway station in Genoa, where the reuse of steel components was an explicit design objective.…”

Section: Reusementioning

confidence: 99%

Material efficiency strategies to reducing greenhouse gas emissions associated with buildings, vehicles, and electronics—a review

Hertwich

Ali

Ciacci

et al. 2019

Environ. Res. Lett.

259

164

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As one quarter of global energy use serves the production of materials, the more efficient use of these materials presents a significant opportunity for the mitigation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. With the renewed interest of policy makers in the circular economy, material efficiency (ME) strategies such as light-weighting and downsizing of and lifetime extension for products, reuse and recycling of materials, and appropriate material choice are being promoted. Yet, the emissions savings from ME remain poorly understood, owing in part to the multitude of material uses and diversity of circumstances and in part to a lack of analytical effort. We have reviewed emissions reductions from ME strategies applied to buildings, cars, and electronics. We find that there can be a systematic trade-off between material use in the production of buildings, vehicles, and appliances and energy use in their operation, requiring a careful life cycle assessment of ME strategies. We find that the largest potential emission reductions quantified in the literature result from more intensive use of and lifetime extension for buildings and the light-weighting and reduced size of vehicles. Replacing metals and concrete with timber in construction can result in significant GHG benefits, but trade-offs and limitations to the potential supply of timber need to be recognized. Repair and remanufacturing of products can also result in emission reductions, which have been quantified only on a case-by-case basis and are difficult to generalize. The recovery of steel, aluminum, and copper from building demolition waste and the end-of-life vehicles and appliances already results in the recycling of base metals, which achieves significant emission reductions. Higher collection rates, sorting efficiencies, and the alloy-specific sorting of metals to preserve the function of alloying elements while avoiding the contamination of base metals are important steps to further reduce emissions.

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“…(i) For aboveground infrastructures such as buildings, several studies have begun to explore ways to embody emission reduction and promote CE approaches in other stages of the life cycle, such as design [27][28][29] or end of life [19,30]. For instance, the reuse of concrete panels reduced the cost of new construction by 20-30%, in addition to having a very low carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) footprint [27,31,32]. Studies on demolishing end-ofservice-life (EoSL) buildings for recoverability and designing new buildings for optimisation have been widely highlighted.…”

Section: Underground Constructionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The reuse and recovery of clay bricks and other masonry blocks jointed by either lime-based or cement-based mortar has also been increasingly addressed to retain the high embodied energy of these products [10,19,38]. In terms of concrete and its related composite structures, research on demountable composite beams has been conducted as design for disassembly (DfD) during demolition [39,40], and the reuse and recycling potential of precast concrete wall panels and concrete slabs from the demolition of high-rise buildings has been discussed by Huuhka et al [27] and the Kerkrade project [41]. (ii) A few studies have already investigated the circular economy in the underground infrastructures.…”

Section: Underground Constructionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Numerical Prediction and Corresponding Circular Economy Approaches for Resource Optimisation and Recovery of Underground Structures

2020

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The transition from a linear economy to a circular economy is a significant component of economic, environmental and social sustainability. Underground metro infrastructures such as tunnels can play a vital role in a circular economy, resulting in greater sustainability and less contribution to climate change. This paper presents numerical models of small-scale brick-lined railway tunnels to identify the critical locations, and then proposes corresponding circular approaches and solutions for the design, maintenance, life extension and end-of-service-life (EoSL) stages of underground infrastructures. The proposed numerical model is firstly verified with respect to the relevant experimental model based on tests under various loading conditions. The results demonstrate that detailed failure processes can be realistically captured by the numerical model, while the macroscopic behaviour compares well with experimental observations. Numerical modelling and subsequent prediction stand out as a practical approach and a powerful performance-based tool for analysing the reuse/recycling potential of metro tunnels and then carrying out easy repair and design for adaptability, disassembly and recoverability of underground infrastructures for a circular economy.

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Reusing concrete panels from buildings for building: Potential in Finnish 1970s mass housing

Cited by 48 publications

References 10 publications

From Waste Management to Component Management in the Construction Industry

From Waste Management to Component Management in the Construction Industry

Material efficiency strategies to reducing greenhouse gas emissions associated with buildings, vehicles, and electronics—a review

Numerical Prediction and Corresponding Circular Economy Approaches for Resource Optimisation and Recovery of Underground Structures

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