Design of the future - Reuse of wooden buildings in a circular economy

Important results from the project

Leaving the linear material flow and embracing a more circular mindset is crucial for the construction and real estate industry, which accounts for a significant portion of climate impact and waste. One way to move forward is to increase reuse and allow products to have multiple life cycles before finally becoming waste or energy. Building components with long lifespans can therefore be both economically and environmentally smart to reuse. The goal was to develop and display demountable and reusable timber buildings based on environmental benefit and collaboration in the value chain

Expected long term effects

Two industrially manufactured timber building systems have been developed, one with volumes and one with planar elements designed to be changed, moved and built upon. These demonstrate possibilities and systems for disassembly and reuse, following the value chain and providing increased environmental benefits. Through simulated disassembly and reassembly, improvement potentials have been identified, leading to enhanced solutions, innovations, and disassembly plans. The experiences resulted in a process model outlining the factors influencing the circular process

Approach and implementation

The project participants´ competence, knowledge of the building system, previously carried out calculations, tests and disassembly are the basis for assumptions and scenarios to estimate and simulate disassembly, reassembly and reusability, such as waste quantities and additional new material during construction, energy use in the factory and on the construction site. The assumptions are the basis for calculations of climate impact (CO2e) according to the standard EN 15978. The climate calculations are performed in Byggsektorns Miljöberäkningsverktyg (BM 3.0).