Slow the Flow: Durability Principles for Circular Construction

Construction is one of the most resource-intensive industries and generates a large amount of waste. Therefore, circular strategies – durability, maintainability and design for adaptability – provide huge opportunities for improvements. In general, buildings should be considered “material banks”, which preserve resources for future use. This article explores the aspects which make it possible to slow down the flows of non-renewable materials and resources.

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Durability is not only about how long materials and elements of a building last; it refers to a building's ability to maintain its functionality over time. It involves designing buildings that can remain functional and relevant over time, minimising the need for replacements and reducing waste generation. Obviously, extending a building’s lifespan significantly reduces its carbon footprint. The "useful life" or “nominal service life” mentioned in legislation does not reflect true durability, as buildings often far exceed this period, which is 50 years in most countries. Increasing durability involves “designing for obsolescence” and anticipating, during the design phase, the degradation that will occur over the building’s life cycle.

Obsolescence in buildings results from various influences, e.g.

• physical factors: a building’s structure, materials or systems degrade over time due to normal wear and tear, environmental factors such as moisture, wind, temperature fluctuation or solar radiation but also due to poor material choices, design flaws, insufficient maintenance, overload or misuse.
• economic factors: profitability and economic value mainly depend on long-term operational and maintenance costs or marketability.
• functional factors: whether the building can fulfil its original purpose or can adapt to new functions over time.
• technological progress: when a building is still “in good shape” physically but not adapted to technological advances such as elevators, telecommunications and home automation, it cannot compete with other buildings possessing the latest technologies.
• social trends: the changing needs, desires and values of society (e.g. population aging, which renders a kindergarten unnecessary, or changes in family structures from multi-generational families to smaller ones).

Improving maintainability and adaptability are some of the strategies to delay obsolescence.

The maintainability of a building refers to designing it in such a way that its maintenance is simple and cost-effective. This approach identifies, during the design phase, potential damages, failures, or problems that might arise in the building components, which would require corrective maintenance intervention. It also requires periodic inspections, repairs and replacement of elements. Users must be informed about the preventive maintenance operations to be carried out.

Design for adaptability involves a way of designing that anticipates future needs stemming from demographic and life changes, climate change, economic or cultural changes. Level(s) Indicator 2.3 details how the adaptability objectives should be achieved in specific aspects, e.g.:

• Layout can be more flexible for example if column structures are used instead of load-bearing walls and there is greater spacing between columns.
• Changes to the building’s servicing is made easier by accessible service ducts and higher ceilings, which provide flexibility in the routing of services.
• Variable autonomy of different areas of the building allows a section of the building to operate independently, e.g. as a workspace or sublet with sufficient autonomy.

The ISO 20887 standard – Design for Deconstruction and Adaptability – is a new international standard that helps the industry adopt this strategy through three basic strategies:

• Versatility is the ability to quickly adapt to different uses that can be alternated, requiring minimal, reversible changes. Versatile spaces increase usage intensity, which can reduce the need for total building space. Examples include the use of partitions or mobile furniture, e.g. a gym that regularly transforms into an event hall.
• Convertibility involves a more substantial transformation, adapting to significant changes in user needs with only minor non-structural modifications. Examples of convertible designs include office buildings that can easily be converted into residential spaces or the adaptation of homes for accessibility improvements.
• Expandable Design refers to the capacity of a design to allow for, with relative ease, vertical or horizontal additions to the original design, e.g. by initially increasing the load-bearing capacity of the structure to create a reserve load for additional floors.

 

TOP CLeveR (Training and Outreach Programmes for a Circular and Level(s) based Revolution) is a LIFE project aimed at equipping construction professionals and workers with the skills needed to address life cycle carbon challenges and the circular approach throughout a building’s life cycle. TOP CLeveR also supports the implementation of the Level(s) Framework by all actors in the value chain. Follow the project on LinkedIn.

The project has received funding from the European Union’s LIFE22-CET program under Grant Agreement No 101121073. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or CINEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

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