A paradigm shift in designing circular steel buildings: Some key principles and pioneering projects

Abstract

The building and construction sector is responsible for approximately 40 % of global carbon emissions, and if improvement is not made in the short term, this impact will probably double in the next 20 years. Recently, the European Green Deal set a target of achieving net‐zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, for which the construction industry will need to apply drastic measures given the significance of its impact on the global emissions. Efficient ways of proceeding in that direction, allowing to quantify and effectively reduce the carbon emissions of buildings and infrastructures, rely on life‐cycle assessments (LCA) and circularity concepts. Applying the latter in practice requires a paradigm shift, which is necessary to implement in the earliest stages of a construction project if an effective, robust and realistic result is targeted. This article covers some key principles which can be kept in mind for the preparation of a circular construction project, as well as some pioneering projects in Europe which highlight a real possibility of delivering circular steel buildings.

Systematic Mapping of Circular Economy in Structural Engineering

“…Reviews typically identify and discuss trends within the study's scope, thus covering the most prevalent trends, DfD and Reuse. Additionally, within the Circular Design attribute General CE, the majority of publications are Reviews, providing a broader discussion on the topic of the CE in structural engineering [57][58][59][60].…”

“…This naturally results in a majority of Review publications, aligning with previous patterns, giving an even distribution between DfD and Reuse. The topics emphasized are LCA [21,57,[69][70][71], adaptability [21][22][23][24]57,69,70,72,73], and the potential of CE integration within specific materials like concrete [18,22,24,74], timber [23,75], and steel [73,[76][77][78][79][80], which is further explored in Section 4.5. Additionally, through the further examination of publications within the CE investigation, the recurrent critical research gaps have been identified as the need for precise standardization [21][22][23]57,74,77,78,81], digital tool integration [81], and overcoming challenges in policy [69,76,78], market acceptance [73,78], and industry-wide adoption to advance CE [18,22,72,74,…”

“…SC: [67] Upcycling SC: [55,56] Reuse SC: [85,96], CE: [79] CD: [61][62][63][64][65][87][88][89][90][91][92]97] CT: [20,[30][31][32]34] CD: [62,84], CE: [18,70,[73][74][75][76]78,80] CE: [98] General CE CT: [68] CT: [16] CE: [57], CT: [58,59], CD: [60] DfD and Reuse SC: [35] DfD CT: [94,95,99], CE: [71], SC: [66,[100][101][102] CD: [83,…”

“…The diagram includes all publications and highlights an exponential growth in the number of publications in recent years, with a particularly notable increase after 2020. This trend emphasizes how initiatives like the European Green Deal have increased the industry's focus on CE principles [57].…”