Remanufacture and Reuse of Building Products for Modern Construction

Abstract

The growth in the housing market in the UK has increased the demand for sustainable wood products for building of homes and a greater use of modern methods of construction (MMC) [1–3]. There is a need to consider the feasibility of remanufacture and reuse of treated timber construction wastes and other building products recovered at the ‘‘end-of-life’’ of a house. The reuse of recovered materials should reduce the demand of timber from nonrenewable sources. The MMC method of construction of housing has rerationalized the way houses are built; with a radical change of design and careful planning, this could also be a way that would enable easy deconstruction and disassembly of structures instead of demolishing at the ‘‘end-oflife’’ of housing. The treated building units can be remanufactured and reused for new housing development; for refurbishment or for building of temporary shelters for displaced families during disaster or emergency situations. The feasibility study should include an economic (cost benefit analysis) and commercial analysis of the reuse of recovered building products such as a roof structure and trusses, windows and doors, walls including studs frames and panels, floors structures and assemblies for building and other purposes. The assessment should include a consideration of social and environmental benefits and risks; as well as technical issues concerning the design and fitting of MMC housing. The key issues for the feasibility study would be the acceptability of treated timber and other construction wastes for reuse; design and planning of MMC housing, durability and performance of the building products to be remanufactured and reused in new housing development or in emergency housing. There are extensive database records from survey of conditions of timber frames and trusses in UK homes [4,5]. These surveys have shown that the majority of timber frames and trusses of existing houses are in good condition, indicating that the majority of the timber building elements can be remanufactured and reused for new applications in the future at the ‘‘end-of-life’’ of housing. Some new wood treatment products for timber have low emission rates and low impact on building environments and health of occupants [6]. The efficacy of these treated timber products would allow their future reuse either recovered from construction wastes or after the ‘‘end-of-life’’ of housings. In order to encourage the growth in the use of recovered materials and building components, there is a need to determine the economic demand, the end-of-life value of each building components and to decide which remanufactured products suit various markets (e.g. emergency housing and self-build market) [7,8], and to assess the commercial, social and environmental benefits to effect a marketing strategy for the reclaimed and remanufactured products. There is also a need to have a radical reassessment of design and fitting of MMC housing that would enable easy deconstruction, disassembly, remanufacture and reuse of building units at end-of-life of housings. There is also a need to develop a registry of materials for building as a part of a planning permission of housing and therefore treated materials can be identified. The outcome of the feasibility study should help construction industry to lessen impacts on the