Development and Application of a Prefabricated Façade Panel Containing Recycled Construction and Demolition Waste

Abstract

The construction sector, identified as one of the largest producers of construction and demolition waste (CDW) and one of the largest energy consumers, demands effective measures and applicable solutions to address sustainability challenges. The closed-loop recycling of CDW, integrated with the large-scale deployment of high energy performing buildings, represents a challenge for the whole construction sector, where the lack of waste efficient and energy efficient envelope systems is identified as one of the main barriers. The aim of this paper is to provide one possible solution to tackle the aforementioned issues – a highly insulated prefabricated ventilated facade panel with concrete layers produced using recycled CDW. The results of extensive research confirm that it is possible to replace a high percentage (50%) of natural coarse aggregate with recycled CDW and produce concrete with good mechanical, durability, and hygrothermal properties. Upscaling from initial research and optimisation at material level to an element level, i.e. development and testing of a ventilated facade panel, demonstrated that it is possible to produce a modular envelope system from recycled CDW that meets all performance requirements for certain construction product type (Declaration of performance and CE-marking). Moreover, the results of hygrothermal and energy consumption field monitoring at the whole building level suggest that the developed panel is suitable for use as a high-performing building envelope in real environmental conditions.