Investigating Responsibility arrangements for Project Delivery Methods to retain optimal Re-use value

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Abstract

The European Union’s incentives to make a shift from a linear towards a circular economy has pushed researchers to come up with tools that will facilitate this transition. A material passport is a digital tool that stores data regarding general information, the composition of the material and its properties. The passport is deemed as active at different stages and data regarding the condition of the material should be updated accordingly. The scope of the research is to investigate the division of tasks amongst stakeholders that have a responsibility in collecting and storing the data throughout different project delivery methods for the Infrastructure and the Real Estate sectors in the Netherlands. The aim of the research is to come up with a new setting of arrangements that shows a clear division of the responsibilities, hence promoting the safeguarding of data in a material passport.

Responsibilities have been assigned to actors and stakeholders throughout different project phases based on the tasks at hand to cover the full spectrum: from Producer to Demolition and Recycling phase. Literature studies and explorative interviews allowed for the framework to be developed under a RACI (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted and Informed) matrix. Mainly, two approaches have been developed:
• The Centralized approach to store the data centrally within the organization/party ensures that each organization comes up with its tailor-made passports according to their own goals and needs for re-use.
• The Supplier approach that entails keeping the data with the Supplier. Each supplier will be able to determine what information is necessary to collect for their own production and hence promoting the potential re-use of the material.

According to several criteria and limitations assessed, results have shown that the Centralized approach is incentivized to be used in the infrastructure sector. The end responsibility lies with the most profitable party, the party that has the best interest in keeping the information centrally in accordance with their way of working, which remains with the Lease holder/ Asset owner. Moreover, the Supplier approach was deduced to be best applicable in the real estate Sector. End responsibilities is best with financial parties (banks, insurance companies) in order to maintain the value of the asset as a collateral (Onderpand) until the building is eventually decomposed. Recommendations for the application of the framework is through contractual agreements. Special agreements could pave the way for the initial setting of the division of responsibilities, however, changes are recommended to the procurement law for the long-term applicability of passports.

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