The transition of traditional construction to circular construction

Abstract

The aim of this research was to develop a user-friendly tool for the construction industry that contributes to the decision-making of making first choices towards circular building in the initial phase of project and helps in considering the factors that play a role when reusing elements and reducing the usage of primary raw materials. With changing climate conditions and awareness of sustainable working, there has been a change in market demand to prevent raw materials from being exhausted and the living environment being affected. The current traditional industry is building with primary raw materials and is being challenged towards sustainable construction, but how the transition from traditional construction to sustainable construction will take place, is rather unclear. This resulted in the need for a good overview of different factors and aspects involved in the transition from traditional building towards circular building. A good overview was still missing and more research was needed into the innovation of reusing elements. Furthermore, the current calculation tools did not provide an insight into the total transition process from traditional building to circular building. Thus, for the construction sector, who currently has to minimize the usage of primary raw materials and reuse as much as possible, it was not clear which factors play a role in the transition process towards circular construction. Therefore, an overview of all factors involved in the transition process was necessary in the initial design phase of a project in order to be able to make a choice in the between design alternatives that meet the requirements drawn up by the project....