Analysis of the Design-Acquire Paradox inherent in the Reuse of Structural Steel Elements using an Ambidextrous Management Approach

Abstract

Recently, the construction industry has been confronted with changing regulations, especially with the advent of sustainability goals and circular economy ambitions. The Dutch government wants to accomplish its ambitious initial objective of using 50% fewer primary resources by 2030. Further, by 2050, the goal is to have a waste-free economy that relies mostly on sustainable and renewable resources and reuses both products and raw materials.

Steel is a fundamental building component in the construction industry. However, due to changing market and industry conditions like lack of availability of raw materials for the production of virgin steel, exponential rise in prices of virgin steel and production of virgin steel being a high carbon and energy-intensive process - the use of virgin steel is becoming a not feasible option. Therefore, to meet the ambitions of the Dutch circular economy and to comply with the changing regulations like the demonstration of the Environmental Cost Indicator (ECI) as part of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and the introduction of carbon taxes or EU ETS (European Union Emissions Trade System) is forcing the construction industry to limit the adoption of virgin steel. Thus, the reuse of structural steel elements is discussed highly in the building industry as an alternative. However, the reuse of steel encounters several barriers to its implementation.

A combination of these barriers results in a paradoxical tension during the decision-making process in the design phase of the project is that “whether is it feasible to first locate existing reclaimed/demountable materials available for reuse from the market and then design around them [Material-Driven Design] or design first with the intention of sourcing/ identifying the required materials later during the procurement phase [Form-Focused Design] ?" The contradictory tension is called the design-acquire paradox. In this research, Biopartner 5, a project which has successfully implemented large-scale reuse of structural steel elements, is used as a case study to analyse the processes involved in adopting the reuse of steel. The successful implementation was facilitated by several favourable conditions that do not match the current market scenario and industrial conditions. Thus, the approaches adopted cannot be used unanimously for all projects that intend to consider the opportunity of reusing steel.

The Ambidextrous Management Approach is identified as a feasible solution to deal with paradoxical tensions. In this research, with the principles of ambidexterity, an intervention is made into the existing industrial practices adopted to develop an Ambidextrous Process Tool. The tool can be used by various parties involved in the design phase of projects which intends to reuse steel. The tool aims to improve the potential and optimise the reuse of structural steel elements in buildings by mitigating the design-acquire paradoxical tension. The process tool emphasises balancing the exploration to improve the traceability of materials available in the market and the exploitation of identified materials. Furthermore, the tool focuses on embracing the potential of both Material Driven Design and Form-Focused Design simultaneously without making a trade-off between them.