Reusability analytics tool for end-of-life assessment of building materials in a circular economy
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/WJSTSD-05-2018-0041 |
| Published date | 07 January 2019 |
| Date | 07 January 2019 |
| Pages | 40-55 |
| Author | Lukman Akanbi,Lukumon Oyedele,Juan Manuel Davila Delgado,Muhammad Bilal,Olugbenga Akinade,Anuoluwapo Ajayi,Naimah Mohammed-Yakub |
| Subject Matter | Public policy & environmental management,Environmental technology & innovation |
Reusability analytics tool for
end-of-life assessment of building
materials in a circular economy
Lukman Akanbi
Big Data Analytics Laboratory (BDAL), University of the West of England,
Bristol, UK and
Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Obafemi Awolowo University,
Ile-Ife, Nigeria
Lukumon Oyedele, Juan Manuel Davila Delgado, Muhammad Bilal,
Olugbenga Akinade and Anuoluwapo Ajayi
Big Data Analytics Laboratory (BDAL), University of the West of England,
Bristol, UK, and
Naimah Mohammed-Yakub
Department of Architecture, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria
Abstract
Purpose –In a circular economy, the goal is to keep materials values in the economy for as long as possible.
For the construction industry to support the goal of the circular economy, there is the need for materials reuse.
However, there is little or no information about the amount and quality of reusable materials obtainable when
buildings are deconstructed. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to develop a reusability analytics tool for
assessing end-of-life status of building materials.
Design/methodology/approach –A review of the extant literature was carried out to identify the best
approach to modelling end-of-life reusability assessment tool. The reliability analysis principle and materials
properties were used to develop the predictive mathematical model for assessing building materials
performance. The model was tested using the case study of a building design and materials take-off
quantities as specified in the bill of quantity of the building design.
Findings –The results of analytics show that the quality of the building materials varies with the building
component. For example, from the case study, at the 80th year of the building, the qualities of the obtainable
concrete from the building are 0.9865, 0.9835, 0.9728 and 0.9799, respectively, from the foundation, first floor,
frame and stair components of the building.
Originality/value –As a contribution to the concept of circular economy in the built environment, the tool
provides a foundation for estimating the quality of obtainable building materials at the end-of-life based on
the life expectancy of the building materials.
Keywords End-of-life, Demolition
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
The end-of-life performance of buildings is dependent on the performance characteristics of
the individual component that makes up the building (Wordsworth and Lee, 2001). It is a
function of the performance characteristics of the different building material that makes up
the building components. The building material level of performance of buildings is a
significant means through which buildings are evaluated as they approach their end-of-life.
The recoverable materials at the end-of-life of buildings have two routes, namely, reusable
(direct reuse and recycle) and waste to landfill (Thormark, 2006). Therefore, the reusability
World Journal of Science,
Technology and Sustainable
Development
Vol. 16 No. 1, 2019
pp. 40-55
© Emerald PublishingLimited
2042-5945
DOI 10.1108/WJSTSD-05-2018-0041
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/2042-5945.htm
The authors would like to acknowledge and express their sincere gratitude to the Engineering and
PhysicalSciences Research Council(EPSRC) and Innovate UK (Grant ReferenceNo. EP/N509012/1, Grant
Application No. 54832–413479/File No. 102473) for providing the financial support for this study.
40
WJSTSD
16,1
of different building materials that make up a building is an essential factor that influences
the end-of-life performance of buildings. However, no adequate attention has been given to
the consideration of the reusability of building materials as a measure of the end-of-life
performance of buildings. This is due majorly to non-availability of adequate information to
designers and engineers at the design stage. Although, according to Eastman et al. (2011),
the issue of having reliable and adequate information available to designers is currently
being partly addressed by the use of Building Information Modelling (BIM), little or no
consideration is given to the reusability and recyclability of the recoverable materials at the
end-of-life of building in BIM.
The concepts of sustainability and green environment have been used interchangeably
to describe various approaches and methods used to evaluate the performance of buildings
in respect to their impact on the environment. The Building Research Establishment (BRE)
developed the BRE Environmental Assessment Method as part of the code for sustainable
built environment in the UK (BRE, 2016). The Leadership in Energy and Environmental
Design is the instrument developed by the US Green Building Council to transform the way
buildings are designed, built and managed in order to enable environmentally, socially
responsible, healthy and prosperous environment that promotes good quality life
(Webster, 2010). In Japan, the Comprehensive Assessment System for Building
Environmental Efficiency is an assessment tool that is used to evaluate building
performance (Fowler and Rauch, 2006). A commonly used environmental and sustainability
measurement tool in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa is the Green Star (Roderick
et al., 2009; Nguyen and Altan, 2011). Green Building Tool is a method used to assess the
potential energy and environmental performance of a building project. It is a product of a
worldwide collaborative effort to build an environmental assessment tool that takes care of
controversial aspects of building performance and allows participating countries to
selectively draw ideas to either incorporate into or modify the tool to reflect regional
conditions and context (Cole and Larsson, 2002; Fowler and Rauch, 2006). The criteria used
by most of the rating systems in the evaluation of the performance of the building are
similar. The criteria primarily include energy consumption, water efficiency, material use
and indoor environmental quality (Azhar, 2011). All the existing tools for measuring the
performance of building lack the capacity to estimate the end-of-life performance of building
as a whole and in terms of individual material that makes up the building.
The aim of this study therefore is to develop a tool for assessing the reusability level of
building materials at the end-of-life of buildings. The specific objectives are as listed below:
(1) to develop a mathematical model for assessing reusability level of building
materials; and
(2) to test the performance of the model, using a case study building design.
The rest of the paper is organised as follows: The literature review is covered in Sections 2
and 3, where building materials requirements for circular economy support and factors that
affect the reusability of building materials are discussed. A detail description of the
methodology, model simulation and evaluation are presented in Section 4. A discussion of
the results is presented in Section 5. Section 6 ends the paper with conclusion, limitation and
areas of further research.
2. Building materials requirement for effective circular economy
The key goal of a circular economy is to ensure that the added values in products are kept
within the economic circle for as long as possible to avoid waste generation to landfill.
Figure 1 shows the phases tha t materials go through in different forms in a
circular economy model. Each of the phases according to the 2014 Communication of the
41
Building
materials in a
circular
economy
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