Designing out waste by optimizing floor layout with locally available building materials

Abstract

Construction and Demolition Waste (CDW) generation is affected by increasing population and urbanization. Such wastes are disposed of in landfill sites, which are limited in number, in the small island developing states (SIDS). With these sites coming to saturation, the authorities are bound to move higher in waste hierarchy. This paper investigates the potential reduction in CDW that can be achieved by optimizing floor layouts' dimensions with respect to the selected building material (concrete masonry units). A survey was carried out on 3-bedroom single storey high residential buildings in the Republic of Mauritius and a generalised layout was produced. Wastage, due to cut-offs, in block wall construction was determined using formulae presented in this paper. It was found that wastage in blocks amounted to around 16.29% of the cost of blocks used in the construction of the whole building. Adjustments were made to the units' dimensions, both horizontally and vertically, taking into consideration the existing locally manufactured cmu's geometries. An adjusted layout was generated and the wastage in block wall construction was recalculated. A reduction of 6.59% in cut-off waste was observed. Waste could not be eliminated completely as blocks had to be cut to fit in openings, hence, grounds for further research. A framework has been proposed, based on this study, that can be adapted to any building materials in order to help designers to optimise their floor layouts at design stage so as to reduce the generation of waste during construction.