The emergence of the Building Material Hub

Abstract

The reuse of secondary materials will be important in achieving a circular built environment. But now, this is challenging since material streams are not synchronized in terms of space and time. Building material hubs, a location where materials are gathered, examined, and momentarily stored before being packed and sent to the building site which, are a way to better organize the flow of goods between parties, might be the answer as they have a positive effect on fewer transit movements, reduced traffic, and better air quality in the city or region.

By identifying building material hubs in relation to the realization of a circular build environment and by defining the factors that shape the emergence of the hubs, this study fills a gap in the literature. The primary research question is therefore: "What different building material hubs in relation to a circular built environment exist, and what factors explain their emergence?".

This study identified six primary factors that explain the establishment of construction material hubs, based on 26 sub-factors. These primary factors include (1) land-based, (2) economic, (3) logistical, (4) technology and knowledge, (5) social, and (6) governance factors. Every circular construction material hub begins with a circular business case that demonstrates how the materials may be used more effectively and with more efficiency. The hub's strategic location connects the supply and demand of building materials, ideally used ones. The building material hubs are shaped by a variety of knowledge and experience as well as logistical accessibility to the main road network. The initiator from the hub contributed equally by raising awareness and offering white label facilities. In relation to the circular built environment, there are four distinct typologies of circular building material hubs: (1) the circular craft centre, (2) the circular multimodal building material hub, (3) the circular building material hub and (4) the circular raw building material hub. This study emphasizes the development of typologies and their connections to relevant territorial factors that explain their emergence, something that, as far as is known, no other study has done. This study is consistent with the body of research from research organizations on the topic of (circular) building material hubs and its potential. The report's findings provide an intriguing parable for cities and regions that have set the challenging objective of attaining a circular built environment. A reasonable next step when enhancing the circular activities in a region may be to implement a CBMH.