Challenging the current approach to end of life of buildings using a life cycle assessment (LCA) approach

Conference paper (2017)
Copyright: © 2017 The Author(s)
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Published Date

21-06-2017

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Abstract

Life cycle thinking has been applied in the construction industry for more than 20 years for the environmental evaluation of construction products and processes. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is the tool that enables the quantification of environmental impacts using parameters appropriate to the various potential environmental impact categories. Standards have developed alongside to support this process, under the ISO 14000 series, ISO 21930 and 21931 for construction products, and lately European standards aimed at harmonising approaches to LCA in construction in Europe, specifically EN 15804 for product level assessments, and EN 15978 for building level assessments. EN 15978 provides a modular approach through which the environmental impacts are reported for different life cycle stages across the processes for the provision of the products and services used in the construction (A1 to A3), the delivery of the products and services to site and the actual construction process (A4 and A5), the use of the building including maintenance, repair and replacement, and energy and water use (B1 to B7), and the demolition/deconstruction and end-of-life management processes for the building (C1 to C4). There is also a further life cycle stage (D) which is aimed at evaluating the benefits or burdens resulting from any potential future reuse of components of the building which would otherwise have been disposed of as wastes from either the construction, use, or endof- life of the building. On the whole this represents a linear approach to assessing buildings, to which a paradigm shift will be needed to apply the principles and benefits posed by circular economy thinking to the construction sector. Part of the H2020 funded project BAMB (Building As Materials Bank) will be to develop a methodology to assess the potential circularity of a building and, in particular, will investigate the potential role of LCA in circular economy.