Assessing the Data Exchange of Material Passports between Key Stakeholders

Abstract

A material passport (MP) is a digital document which aims to track the circular potential of building materials. It is seen as a key enabler for a circular economy (CE) in the building sector. The construction industry is one of the most resource-intensive industries which produces massive amounts of construction and demolition waste (CDW). Shifting the construction sector from a linear to a circular model has been gaining increasing attention recently. Re-use of materials in existing building stock to prevent further depletion of natural resources is seen as one of the means to transition the sector towards a CE. Research in this area has been focused on the potential and opportunities of digital technologies in the reuse of materials, but there is a lack of research on the implementation of MPs by key stakeholders in practice.

This research aims to gain insight into key stakeholders’ perspectives regarding current data exchange practices. The guiding research question for this thesis is “How can the data accessibility and interoperability of Material Passports be optimised in order to improve the effectiveness of its implementation within practice?” It is answered with the help of four sub-questions. The first sub-question aims to gain an understanding of the key concepts and characteristics of MP data exchange with the help of a literature review. This is followed by the second sub-question which explores the data exchange roles of key stakeholders per building lifecycle stage. The third sub-question seeks to gain an understanding of the main challenges faced by key stakeholders regarding MP data exchange through the use of semi-structured interviews. This is followed by a case study which seeks to examine the TU Delft’s perspective as a public client and data owner regarding making data more accessible and interoperable for other stakeholders through the use of semi-structured interviews.

It is found that although ample data on materials and components exist, they are currently not accessible or interoperable for stakeholders across the sector. Stakeholders can be data providers or data extractors, however the responsibility for making data accessible and interoperable lies with the data owner who in most cases is the client. A lack of; standardised data, a government initiated centralised platform, data structure, and standards and norms are found to be the major challenges associated with data exchange of MPs. From a public client (TU Delft) perspective, it is found that although there is an understanding of improving data exchange, data privacy is a major hurdle that needs to be overcome before data can openly be shared with all stakeholders in the sector. In order to enforce a shift in the working methods of the building sector, more clients need to start demanding data from stakeholders.