Project management in circular building projects

Abstract

The environmental pressure on the planet and its limited capacities has resulted in the need for new building methodologies that respect this limited capacity. Building methods based on the principles of the Circular Economy could pose an answer to this problem. However, limited knowledge and tools are available to bring this into practice. This research focuses on circular building from the perspective of re-using building components upfront and its relation with the project management of non-residential building projects in The Netherlands. The study aims to clarify the role of the project management and obtain more insight into the briefing, the project organization, and the selection of the project team, in relation to the re-use of building components. By conducting qualitative research, consisting of a literature study and empirical research, including multiple expert interviews with people involved in re-use projects and case study of a renovation and a newly built office project, a better understanding has been achieved. The research suggests that the management of the initiation phase is of great importance in setting a good starting point for re-use projects. The briefing could help in this by defining clear ambitions and goals. These can guide the team throughout the process. Besides, the way projects are organized could facilitate the inclusion of re-use. This includes the extension of the initiation phase, in which an inventory of reclaimed components is started. Throughout the process better integration between activities is needed to align the reclaimed components with the design, this comes with additional iteration. Lastly, the project team selection is found to have an impact on re-use. The composition of an interdisciplinary team is proposed to integrate planning and design activities and conduct them earlier in the process. This includes (new) collaborations with re-use experts. It is also found that the motivation of the team members could impact the amount of re-use. These findings are translated into a project management framework and in the visualization of the re-use process in a flow chart. These can be used by project managers in future re-use building projects.