Real estate players should develop a materials passports database to improve reuse during development and lessen the environmental impact of schemes, according to a policy paper from architecture firm Orms and Lancaster University.
The paper, written by Orms’ Rachel Hoolahan and the university’s Ana Rute Costa, argues that the success of the circular economy during the build process hinges on clear deconstruction plans for developments as well as a pre-redevelopment or pre-demolition audit that tracks the relocation of resources.
The pair said that integrating reused materials into the supply chain via materials passports, which assign values for recovery and reuse to all materials in a development, would reduce wasted materials on construction sites, speed up material reuse and aid deconstruction if the building is eventually demolished.
They urged developers to conduct pre-redevelopment and pre-deconstruction audits to maximise retention and retrofit opportunities in existing buildings, in accordance with GLA guidance and BREEAM requirements. Data collected can then be added to the materials passport database.
The paper recommends a framework outlining various passport types and levels depending on the stage of construction. These include material passports, product passports, system passports and elements passports, with all materials passports “seen as live documents that can be expanded or simplified” depending on the circular economy requirements.
“We propose that from 2024 onwards, every construction project should have materials passports as one of the deliverables,” the report said, noting that for this to happen local authorities would need to spread the principles of materials passports more widely by “introducing encouragement through local policy”.
Developers already embracing materials passports include British Land. Writing in EG in 2022, development director Laura Hall said its passport for 1 Broadgate was a UK first for large-scale use of the initiative.
It began at the start of the development process, Hall said, and “by the time we reach the end of the project – scheduled for 2025 – we will have built a set of valuable data, which we hope will give the building much greater potential for reuse in the future”.
She added: “Traditional construction methods need to be challenged and interrogated in order to meaningfully minimise waste and accelerate the built environment’s decarbonisation objectives.”
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