242
O. B. Carcassi et al.
The methodology for the development of the prefabricated building component
was structured in different working steps, as shown schematically in Fig. 2 on the
left.
The work included the different analyses for the definition of the main characteristics of the preassembled building component, based on the market potential and
the needs and constraints of the social cooperatives, main partners of the research
project.
In the first phase, a survey of the most common building products with a high
recycled content commonly used in building renovations was carried out in order to
provide recommendations for the following design steps. For each selected product,
the environmental sustainability and economic costs were investigated on the bases
of a semi-quantitative evaluation matrix, which took into account the following four
categories (Pittau et al. 2017):
A. Supply chain—which includes the distance of the manufacturing process (from
raw materials extraction to final production), the annual amount of production
and the annual variability;
B. Sustainability—which includes the amount of recycled materials used for production, the share of material which can be recycled at the end of life (EOL),
the embodied energy for extraction and manufacturing and the energy need for
product disposal at the EoL;
C. Economic cost—which includes the cost of material supply and the cost of production, divided into automation of production, time needed for a complete production cycle (from transportation to manufacturing to packaging), cost related
to the manufacturing area and cost related to the storage;
D. Usage—which includes the physical characteristics, divided into durability,
vapour permeability, safety; the reversibility of use, the adaptability to refurbishment and, finally, the innovation value. Based on the results of the evaluation matrix, the concept design of the technical element was implemented: a
wood-based composite panel with a high recycled content to be installed on the
existing structures (Fig. 2 on the right).
The project demonstrated that, if the dimension and shape of the panels are optimized, the use of an advanced prefabrication system for the renovation of the existing
roof is a competitive choice, with a cost which is very close to the cost of a traditional
construction system. Moreover, both the quality and reliability of the renovation can
significantly increase, since a better control of the whole building process is ensured
at every single stage, from manufacturing to post-construction.
O. B. Carcassi et al.
The methodology for the development of the prefabricated building component
was structured in different working steps, as shown schematically in Fig. 2 on the
left.
The work included the different analyses for the definition of the main characteristics of the preassembled building component, based on the market potential and
the needs and constraints of the social cooperatives, main partners of the research
project.
In the first phase, a survey of the most common building products with a high
recycled content commonly used in building renovations was carried out in order to
provide recommendations for the following design steps. For each selected product,
the environmental sustainability and economic costs were investigated on the bases
of a semi-quantitative evaluation matrix, which took into account the following four
categories (Pittau et al. 2017):
A. Supply chain—which includes the distance of the manufacturing process (from
raw materials extraction to final production), the annual amount of production
and the annual variability;
B. Sustainability—which includes the amount of recycled materials used for production, the share of material which can be recycled at the end of life (EOL),
the embodied energy for extraction and manufacturing and the energy need for
product disposal at the EoL;
C. Economic cost—which includes the cost of material supply and the cost of production, divided into automation of production, time needed for a complete production cycle (from transportation to manufacturing to packaging), cost related
to the manufacturing area and cost related to the storage;
D. Usage—which includes the physical characteristics, divided into durability,
vapour permeability, safety; the reversibility of use, the adaptability to refurbishment and, finally, the innovation value. Based on the results of the evaluation matrix, the concept design of the technical element was implemented: a
wood-based composite panel with a high recycled content to be installed on the
existing structures (Fig. 2 on the right).
The project demonstrated that, if the dimension and shape of the panels are optimized, the use of an advanced prefabrication system for the renovation of the existing
roof is a competitive choice, with a cost which is very close to the cost of a traditional
construction system. Moreover, both the quality and reliability of the renovation can
significantly increase, since a better control of the whole building process is ensured
at every single stage, from manufacturing to post-construction.