Reuse of building materials - a user perspective

The project started in April 2020 with digital kick off meeting with a follow up partner workshop focusing on discussion on potential user groups and reusable construction products that can be considered in REBUS (WP1). A systematic literature review was performed (WP1) with close collaboration with a summer student to evaluate the status of research-based knowledge of different user group on technical performance (WP2), life cycle sustainability assessment tools and methods (WP3) and practical implementation (WP4). A national online survey was conducted (WP1) together with the PhD student to identify the needs of different user groups regarding choosing reusable products. More than 60 construction products have evaluated regarding their suitability for reuse from the perspective of redocumentation according to the requirements in the Norwegian Regulations on Technical Requirements for Construction Works (WP2). Together with the project partners, five products were selected (WP1 and WP2) and the process of setting up guidelines for redocumentation of the selected products have started (WP2). Screening of relevant pilot projects and toolboxes (WP1 and WP4) have performed through data collection and partner interviews to get an overview of practical challenges, barriers and success factors of reusable construction products. The upstart of the network strategy for learning about reuse of construction products (WP5), which requires physical meetings where people get to know one another, has been postponed to 2021 due to covid19. In 2021, evaluation of the findings from user requirements identified from state-of-the-art review (WP1, WP3), national survey (WP1, WP5) and interviews (WP1, WP4) have been conducted. Two scientific articles, based on the findings from national survey and interviews, have been written and submitted to journals. The work on the guidelines for redocumentation continued based on requirements given in the harmonized product standards as well as input from the construction industry (WP2). State-of-the art on life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA) has been conducted to get an overview of methodological choices used for evaluation of reused products as input to the development of LCSA framework (WP3). There is on-going work on providing data from the selected pilot projects (WP4) for testing and validation of ongoing activities (under WP2 and WP3). As part of evaluation of how network strategies influence the participants? attitudes and actions for reuse of building materials, the first physical network seminar has been conducted on September 22nd with 8 firms (WP5). Group interviews of the network members per firm has been conducted before the network seminar. As part of one of the project milestones, REBUS mid-term seminar has been conducted on 23rd of September with participants from project partners, advisory board and steering committee members and representatives from The research Council of Norway.

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Despite a rapidly increasing body of research dealing with barriers and opportunities of the circular economy transition in various industries, there is still limited detailed insights to many of the critical transition aspects in current literature. Previous scientific work dealing with reuse of building materials in a Norwegian context is scarce. Furthermore, current knowledge on Norwegian conditions is primarily industry reports written for practitioners based upon anecdotal experiences. Even if there exists distinctive regulations, practices and documentation methods for (new) building products, similar assessment systems for reused construction products do not exist, neither in the regulations nor as voluntary systems. In addition, due to specific national conditions, results of international studies have a need for contextualising to be relevant for the Norwegian building industry. There is thus a need to develop an improved and research-based understanding of aspects particularly relevant for Norway. The project is therefore expected to contribute with new knowledge of several aspects of reuse of building materials including legal procedures and quality assurance schemes of multiple technical, environmental, economic and social performance and how these aspects are related. By cooperating with the industry, the project aims to find practical solutions and develop more relevant methods for faster implementation of reuse of building materials. Pilots testing will build in-depth knowledge of how to deal with implementation issues such as suitability of test and evaluation methods, policies and requirements, and markets for reused products. Research on network strategies are another new aspect to ensure high level of engagement among users and stakeholders in co-production of common knowledge.