Design of concrete buildings for disassembly: An explorative review

Due to various kinds of obsolescence, a large number of concrete buildings around the world are removed to give space for new buildings, however, the elements of these buildings in most cases have the ability to serve longer time, but the dominant demolition end-of-life scenario prevents from the reuse of these elements. It has been demonstrated that reuse of elements and materials is an environmentally responsible option that turns the current linear model of building materials and elements into a cyclic one, which pushes toward reconsidering the construction design of concrete buildings to support future disassembly, that facilitate reuse and adaptation. This study tends to explore and review the current issues related to concrete technologies and their role in building assembly and disassembly, as well as DfD “design for disassembly” aspects and theories that clarify and pave the way for future innovations, which move the construction design of concrete buildings to a higher degree of environmental responsibility. The study found out that despite the continuous developments in the field of concrete technologies, the link of these developments to the end-of-life phase is still missing. The study concluded that it is possible through the application of DfD criteria on precast concrete systems and elements to change the liner life-cycle model to a cyclic one.