Abstract
Globally, the building, construction and demolition industry generates the largest percentage of waste. Building material waste is still commonly landfilled, and materials such as concrete and steel are increasingly being retained in the material loop through suboptimal operations such as recycling. To contrast this trend, the objective of this paper is to present a new circular economy–based index for the built environment; design for disassembly, deconstruction, and resilience (3DR). We applied this index to our purpose-built prefabricated building, named Legacy Living Lab (L3). The 3DR method illustrates the steps and decision making that, if applied during design, production, maintenance, and end of life, would enable a closure of the building materials loop. To provide a complete picture of the benefits of the 3DR method, the material flow of the building was analysed, including a comparison of the amount of new materials. The amount of reusable materials was investigated to sustain the circularity once dissembling the building. The benefits of applying the 3DR method are proven during and for each stage of the project lifecycle. Specifically, the results of this study show that building refurbishment is possible through the 83% of walls and ceilings that can be disassembled during the operation phase. The prototype building can be relocated, which in the process produces less than 1% of the buildings mass in waste. The 3DR principles extend the knowledge and application of the circular economy approach through the conversion of building waste into new resources in buildings.
Published Version
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