Deconstruction and recycling
The technology’s advantages
Section titled “The technology’s advantages”The frame can be taken apart
Section titled “The frame can be taken apart”A screwed connection can be undone. That means demolition need not be destruction: the members can be removed.
Steel can be remelted
Section titled “Steel can be remelted”Without loss of properties, and its collection works economically. Steel as a circular material.
Less rubble
Section titled “Less rubble”A light structure produces substantially less demolition waste than a masonry or in-situ building.
What limits it
Section titled “What limits it”Bonded and foamed layers
Section titled “Bonded and foamed layers”If the elements of the build-up cannot be separated, selective demolition is hard. Injected foam, for example, is a good thermal solution but makes separating the materials harder at demolition.
A mixed build-up
Section titled “A mixed build-up”Many materials in small quantities: hard to sort.
Missing documentation
Section titled “Missing documentation”If we do not know what is in the wall, demolition starts with exploration.
What design can do
Section titled “What design can do”Separability
Section titled “Separability”A build-up whose layers can be separated at demolition. That is a deliberate decision, and sometimes calls for a compromise with other considerations.
Less material
Section titled “Less material”The best environmental decision is the material not installed. An optimised structure is therefore not only cheaper but environmentally better.
Long service life
Section titled “Long service life”What does not need replacing is the best solution.
Documentation
Section titled “Documentation”If a record survives of what was installed, demolition can be planned — and the materials collected deliberately.
The question rarely asked today
Section titled “The question rarely asked today”Demolition is an event decades away, so it is easy to forget at design stage. Environmental assessment of buildings, though, increasingly includes end of life. EPD and life cycle assessment.
The point
Section titled “The point”Separability is a possibility, not an automatism: the frame can be taken apart, but the build-up decides how recyclable the material will be.