Factors affecting the use of earth material in mainstream construction: a critical review

Challenges to upscale earth block masonry in Western Europe from a life cycle perspective

“…Since the end of last century, the development of normative documents for different earthen construction techniques has emerged worldwide. Nevertheless, the lack of standards is generally cited as the primary technical barrier [8,12]. According to the RILEM on the standardisation of earth construction on a European scale, creating new codes and standards is essential to encourage designers to build with earth and to persuade regulatory bodies [12].…”

“…Regarding the resources, a challenge listed by [8] is to find local soil with the recommended proportion of clay, silt, sand and gravel, particularly in urban areas, whenever one wishes to avoid environmental impacts due to transportation, which is the case for all manufacturers. The manufacturers do not consider this a particular challenge, as was equally pointed out by [5] for practitioners in the UK.…”

“…Moreover, BEL and FRA underline the difficulty of knowing the admissible height and length of EBMIWs, requiring data for slenderness, bending resistance and shear strength. In the construction phase, relating on-site performance, such as compressive strength, to prior laboratory testing [8] has only been complex in the beginning, says FRA. Chemically improving technical performance is rejected by BEL, FRA and GER, as they are against stabilisation at the cost of environmental performance [10] and moisture buffering capacity [22,23].…”

“…In addition, most studies consider the challenges of earth construction in general [4,5,7]. Nevertheless, according to [8], every technique may have unique hurdles that should be identified. Moreover, [8] underlines a potential bias in literature considering earth in a linear economy while the construction sector needs a paradigm shift towards a circular system.…”

“…Nevertheless, according to [8], every technique may have unique hurdles that should be identified. Moreover, [8] underlines a potential bias in literature considering earth in a linear economy while the construction sector needs a paradigm shift towards a circular system. For instance, no study defining barriers or drivers for the end-of-life…”