Precast construction and environment

Abstract

Precast construction can significantly contribute to the environment. Generally, it causes less construction and demolition waste, it uses less energy during erection and demolition, and the emissions during production of the precast elements and the construction of the buildings are minimised. Precast construction offers great possibilities regarding building adaptability, building flexibility and reuse of precast concrete elements. The fib commission 6—Prefabrication—has (in close cooperation with the fib commission 3—environmental aspects of design and construction) installed a working group dealing with environmental issues and precast concrete technology in the building industry. This working group, together with the Department of Building Engineering of the Delft University of Technology has carried out research in order to analyse the possibilities, which precast concrete construction, due to its demountability, has in terms of flexibility and adaptability of buildings, their sustainability and our environment. For this purpose different precast concrete and demountable building systems in the Netherlands have been analysed. This article gives a concise review of the research and the results achieved.