Circular Economy and Regeneration of Building Stock …
297
introducing circular practices throughout the entire process; hence, the
development of green public procurement with ambitious requirements (e.g. with
regards to the reuse of building parts and elements, the reversible design approach
and the use of recycled/recyclable materials) is necessary.
The introduction of economic incentives is fundamental to overcome the
economic barriers: for instance, for building renovations that use reused/reusable
materials or recycled/recyclable materials; which base the design phase on
strategies for disassembly, using BIM tools and off-site construction technics to
avoid construction waste; which use life cycle tools to assess the sustainability of
the project solutions chosen. Finally, it is important to upgrade the sustainability
rating system with new criteria useful for assessing the potential of the project with
respect to the themes of a circular economy.
4.2 Relationships Throughout the Building Renovation
Value Chain and Circular Business Models
Building renovation is accomplished via a long and complex process, conducted by
a lot of operators with different roles and relationships. Sometimes operators are
not in contact with one another and the information flow is interrupted during the
process. Also, crucial decisions are made by different operators in different moments
of the process: for example, the investor decides the type of intervention and the
sustainability target to achieve; the designer can decide how to obtain the target, the
materials and technical solution; the demolisher decides the demolition techniques
(selective demolition or deconstruction); the demolition-yard organization and the
management and destination of material/waste. This fragmentary process is one of
the obstacles to an easy application of circular economy at the building level.
The analysis of relationships along the value chain shows that the value of
materials stocked in the building is completely unknown by the investors;
consequently, they are not interested to know the destination (landfill or recovery)
of the materials deriving from a renovation process. Also, the designer, most of the
time, during the building renovation design process, does not take into account the
material quantity output in order to consider the possibility of reusing or recycling
it. The pre-demolition audit could be an existing instrument useful to improve the
cooperation and communication among designers, demolition companies and
waste managers; however, this instrument is not commonly used. Improvement and
specificity during the procedure are necessary in order to boost the instrument as a
decision-making process and avoid demolition waste. Moreover, designers tie the
difficulties in designing a reversible building to a lack of available easily
disassembled products on the market. It is necessary to open up a dialogue between
designers and producers in order to develop technological solutions to build a
building based on a design for disassembly and adaptability.
297
introducing circular practices throughout the entire process; hence, the
development of green public procurement with ambitious requirements (e.g. with
regards to the reuse of building parts and elements, the reversible design approach
and the use of recycled/recyclable materials) is necessary.
The introduction of economic incentives is fundamental to overcome the
economic barriers: for instance, for building renovations that use reused/reusable
materials or recycled/recyclable materials; which base the design phase on
strategies for disassembly, using BIM tools and off-site construction technics to
avoid construction waste; which use life cycle tools to assess the sustainability of
the project solutions chosen. Finally, it is important to upgrade the sustainability
rating system with new criteria useful for assessing the potential of the project with
respect to the themes of a circular economy.
4.2 Relationships Throughout the Building Renovation
Value Chain and Circular Business Models
Building renovation is accomplished via a long and complex process, conducted by
a lot of operators with different roles and relationships. Sometimes operators are
not in contact with one another and the information flow is interrupted during the
process. Also, crucial decisions are made by different operators in different moments
of the process: for example, the investor decides the type of intervention and the
sustainability target to achieve; the designer can decide how to obtain the target, the
materials and technical solution; the demolisher decides the demolition techniques
(selective demolition or deconstruction); the demolition-yard organization and the
management and destination of material/waste. This fragmentary process is one of
the obstacles to an easy application of circular economy at the building level.
The analysis of relationships along the value chain shows that the value of
materials stocked in the building is completely unknown by the investors;
consequently, they are not interested to know the destination (landfill or recovery)
of the materials deriving from a renovation process. Also, the designer, most of the
time, during the building renovation design process, does not take into account the
material quantity output in order to consider the possibility of reusing or recycling
it. The pre-demolition audit could be an existing instrument useful to improve the
cooperation and communication among designers, demolition companies and
waste managers; however, this instrument is not commonly used. Improvement and
specificity during the procedure are necessary in order to boost the instrument as a
decision-making process and avoid demolition waste. Moreover, designers tie the
difficulties in designing a reversible building to a lack of available easily
disassembled products on the market. It is necessary to open up a dialogue between
designers and producers in order to develop technological solutions to build a
building based on a design for disassembly and adaptability.