Circular EconomyHorizon 2020

Pre-fabricated elements through the reuse and recycling of construction materials and structures

Carles Gimeno

background-71479_1280The Green INSTRUCT project develops Green Integrated Structural Elements for Retrofitting and New Construction of Buildings. Click here to download the leaflet.

 

The rapid growth of the construction industry worldwide during the past decades has resulted in an enormous increase of the produced Construction and Demolition Waste (CDW) quantities globally. This requires the industry to make increased changes and market decisions to ensure the sustainability of the environment. Some of the current challenges are:

  1. Contains bulky and heavy materials, concrete, wood, asphalt, gypsum, metals, bricks, glass, plastics, etc.
  2. 850 million tons of waste in Europe (31% of the total waste generation, 40%–67% of CDW is concrete)
  3. Cement industry 1.6 billion tons of CO2 each year globally (8% of total CO2 emissions)
  4. 39 kg of construction waste per square metre of a building -> energy saving potential
  5. Recent crisis – impact on the Building & Construction (B&C) sector à increased unemployment, financial damage on subsectors such as construction materials, distribution channels and logistics
  6. EU targets 2020 and 2050 (reducing CO2 emissions by 80-95%) -> need for efficient, affordable and deep refurbishment à increase needed by a factor of two to three times the current rate
  7. Deep refurbishment difficult with capital investment, technologies inadequately optimised, often retrofitting needs high time investment
  8. Prefabrication reduces construction waste and costs and allows faster construction on-site
  9. Quality assurance increases and quality more predictable

 

The Green INSTRUCT project develops a prefabricated modular building wall panel that is superior to conventional precast reinforced concrete panels by virtue of its reduced weight, improved acoustic and thermal performance and multiple functionalities.6 integrated layers, structural performance, insulation, comfortable healthy indoor environment, aesthetics, CO2 capture and grey & storm water management, easy installation, light weight, recyclable, reusable, over 70% CDW, energy and resource efficient, based on extrusion, cost effective, no specialized work force required.

Competitive advantages:

  1. Multilayered integrated building block with more than 70% CDW of resource materials
  2. Prefabrication for new buildings and refurbishment in modular perspective
  3. Easy and fast installation, 30% lighter than conventional envelope walls of the same size
  4. Development of a universal building block with customisation potential
  5. Installations at least 15% faster – on a product stage 30%
  6. Eurocode standards – fire safety, thermal insulation with U value of 0,14 W/m2.°C, acoustic insulation 55-60dB
  7. Green technologies
  8. On site grey and storm water management through integration of a vertical green wall

 

The Green INSTRUCT project:

  1. Achieves sustainability and cost savings through CDW sourced materials and C2C strategies
  2. Develops efficient, robust, eco-friendly and replicable processes
  3. Enables novel cost efficient products and new supply chains
  4. Develops a building block that renders refurbished or new buildings safe and energy efficient and
  5. Safeguards a comfortable, healthy and productive environment