DeCO - Guidelines for the deconstruction of recent buildings

Abstract

The project “DeCO - Guidelines for the Deconstruction of recent buildings” developed standardized procedures (guidelines) for the deconstruction of recent and contemporary buildings. DeCO associated a Deconstruction Worksheet with each reference construction package, covering contemporary construction techniques almost entirely. End-of-life worksheets of the most common insulating materials complete this documentation. The authors developed practical procedures that can be used directly on site and may represent a direct and rapid impact in increasing construction material recycling and reuse rates within the perspective of Circular Economy models in the Construction sector thus reducing waste disposal. The project highlighted that deconstruction practices are more labour intensive than conventional mechanical demolition activities thus can cause an increase in estimated demolition costs while on the other hand a systematic disassembly could decrease costs and volumes of landfilling mineral CDW and can be a first step in increasing construction material recycling and reuse rates, within the perspective of Circular Economy models in the Construction sector.