Building Lifecycle

LIFE-CYCLE OF BUILDINGS A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE , UNIVERSITY OF LAGOS IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF BACHELORS OF SCIENCE (BSc) IN ARCHITECTURE BY WHENU MAUTON . A. 100501059 OCTOBER 2011 Building Life Cycle refers to the view of a building over the course of its entire life-in other words,viewing it not just as an operational building,but also taking into account the design,installation,commissioning,operation and decommissioning phases.
It is used to use this view when attempting to improve an operational feature of a building that is related to how a building was designed for instance,overall energy conservation. In the vast majority of cases there is less than sufficient effort put into designing a building to be energy efficient and hence large inefficiencies are incurred in the operational phase . Current research is ongoing in exploring methods of incorporating a whole life cycle view of buildings,rather than just focusing in the operational phase as is the current situation.
Building life-cycle is in the stages listed below: * Extraction Of Building Materials * Processing Of Building Materials * Designing Of Building * Construction Of Building * Occupancy/Maintenance * Demolition/Disposal * Destruction And Material Re-Use * Design For Deconstruction * Diagram showing building life-cycle. DECONSTRUCTION Deconstruction is a technique practitioners are using to salvage valuable building materials, reduce the amount of waste they send to landfills, and mitigate other environmental impacts.

It is the disassembly of a building and the recovery of its materials, often thought of as construction in reverse. Today, the appreciation of the lifep and value of materials has become diminished in the context of a more disposable society in which new is assumed to be better. Technological innovation and increased availability of materials, coupled with a growing economy, population, and desire for more individualized space, has increased the demand for commercial and residential development, typically using new materials.
According to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), the size of an average home in the United States jumped 45 percent between 1970 and 2002, from 1,500 to over 2,200 square feet, while the number of people living in each home decreased from an average of 3. 2 people to 2. 6 people. This meant more demolition, and renovation, of older structures to allow for new and bigger structures. Demolition using heavy equipment is the traditional process for building removal. Modern demolition equipment removes structures quickly, destroying the materials within and creating solid waste destined for landfills.
Some recycling does occur during the demolition process, most typically concrete, brick, metal, asphalt pavement, and wood. However, landfill costs in many states are still low, enabling wasteful disposal practices. Although certain areas in the United States are beginning to restrict disposal of construction and demolition (C&D) waste in order to promote recycling and reuse (see Section 3), some states still have local landfill tipping fees as low as $9. 95 per cubic yard. Environmental impacts from construction and demolition activities are sizeable, both upstream and downstream.
Large amounts of energy and resources go into the production of new building materials. RESOURCES NOT WASTE Deconstruction advocates are working to change the perception that older building materials are “waste. ” In fact, many of these materials are valuable resources. However, according to EPA, only 20 to 30 percent of building-related C&D material was recycled or reused in 1996. 10 This gap presents an opportunity to capture valuable resources. Deconstruction is becoming a complement to or a substitute for demolition worldwide, including in the United States where a market is emerging.
Brad Guy, a leader in the deconstruction field and president of the Building Materials Reuse Association, has found that there are currently over 250 active deconstruction programs throughout the United States. Such programs recognize the potential and benefits of this process, which include: ¦ Reduction of Waste and Debris— According to the Deconstruction Institute, in order to sustain human society into the next century, resource efficiency will have to increase by a factor of 10. The materials salvaged through deconstruction help replenish the construction materials market, rather than add to the amount of waste in landfills.
In fact, studies indicate that deconstruction can reduce construction site waste by 50 to 70 percent. 11 This not only helps extend the life of the existing landfills, but also decreases disposal costs for developers by minimizing the amount of building related C&D material they are responsible for at the end of a project. EMBODIED ENERGY A major factor in determining a building’s lifecycle impact, Embodied Energy is the amount of energy consumed to produce a product, in this case building materials. This includes the energy needed to: ¦ Mine or harvest natural resources and raw materials; Manufacture the materials; and ¦ Transport the materials. By extending the life of building materials, deconstruction and materials reuse preserve this embodied energy, minimizing the need for further energy use. ¦ Resource Conservation and Emissions Reduction—Deconstruction helps preserve a material’s “embodied energy” (see text box) and extends the life of natural resources already harvested. 13 This minimizes the need to produce new materials—in turn saving more natural resources and reducing production impacts such as emissions.
For instance, a dominant benefit of deconstruction and the reuse of salvaged materials is the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Using materials salvaged from deconstruction projects also reduces the demand to ship materials typically sourced and manufactured long distances from their ultimate use. This helps support the local economy as well as further reduce air emissions. Deconstructing a building also provides the opportunity to recycle any of the material that cannot be reused. Although the recycling process uses some energy and raw materials, and emits pollution, it is still a more sustainable option than disposing of materials. 4 ¦ Economics Benefi ts—New end use markets, including salvaged material resellers and other small businesses, are being created to support deconstruction activities. Other economic benefits include job creation, workforce development training, lower building material cost, and revenue generation through salvaged materials sales. Avoided demolition debris disposal costs are a benefit when considering the transportation and disposal costs, as well as disposal restrictions, in certain U. S. states.
Additionally, property owners can realize tax deductions that include the value of the building and its materials if they are donated to a non-profi t organization. MATERIALS RE-USE Building materials may retain structural or aesthetic value beyond their lifep in a given building. This value is captured through materials reuse, a practice that can occur independently from or in conjunction with deconstruction and other lifecycle construction activities. As a component of lifecycle construction, it is an essential step in completing the loop.
The concept of “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” identifies reuse as midway between initial reduction of resource use and resource recycling in a hierarchy of limiting environmental impact. Reducing initial resource use avoids the impact entirely, as well as any need for reuse or recycling. However, reusing materials is preferable to recycling them because less remanufacturing and processing is required, and less associated waste is generated. In its broadest definition, materials reuse is the practice of incorporating previously used materials into new projects.
In the context of lifecycle construction, salvaging finish features, stripping interior components, and deconstruction all make building materials available for reuse. Similar to deconstruction, the major benefit of materials reuse is the resource and energy use that is avoided by reducing the production of new materials. Materials reuse also salvages materials with characteristics that are generally unavailable in new materials. For example, lumber with desirable structural and aesthetic qualities such as large dimensions (especially timbers) and knot-free fine grain can be found in walls of old buildings.
Such items have a high reuse value as a combined structural and finished surface piece. Note that it is less important what species of tree the wood came from than the way it has been used and the state it is in after such use. Certain challenges accompany the numerous benefits of this critical step in the lifecycle construction process. These include the need to verify material quality (e. g. , lumber grade) and the variability of available material quantities, which fluctuate with the level of deconstruction activity.
This section describes the opportunities for materials reuse, the market for reusable materials, and challenges associated with materials reuse. Three case studies at the end of the section highlight projects that incorporate materials reuse. The first case study describes a joint venture deconstruction/materials reuse project that features immediate reuse of salvaged materials. The second case study describes a residential construction project that incorporates significant amounts of reusable materials. The third case study highlights a used building materials retail store within the growing market for reusable materials.
IMPLEMENTATION OF MATERIALS REUSE Materials reuse can occur on both large and small scales. Depending on the availability of materials and the desired future use, materials reuse can involve: a) whole buildings, b) building assemblies, c) building components, d) remanufacturing of building components, and/or e) reuse of individual building materials without modifications to them. These are defi ned below. a) Whole Building—Involves relatively minor changes to a building’s structure that often adapt it to a new use (e. g. , transforming a factory into lofts). ) Building Assemblies—Defined as “a collection of parts fitted together into a complete structure” (e. g. , pre-fabricated walls). 28 c) Building Components—May be subassemblies or other structures that are not complete on their own (e. g. doors with jambs). d) Remanufacturing—Adds value to a material by modifying it (e. g. , re-milling framing lumber for use as trim. Note that this differs somewhat from recycling because the wood is not entirely reprocessed, and retains its basic form). e) Building Materials—Reuse of any individual type of material such as lumber or stone (e. . , brick from an old structure used in a new landscape design without modifying it). Individual building materials and finish pieces are the most commonly reused. Primary among these is lumber, but steel beams, stone, brick, tile, glass, gypsum, and plasterboard, as well as doors, windows, and cabinets are also routinely successfully reused. At a larger scale, building components are ideal for reuse, while the ultimate reuse includes entire building assemblies, such as panelized walls or floors that can be wholly incorporated into new projects.
To help promote more materials reuse and recycling, the City of Seattle produced an “index of materials reuse” that identifies suitable materials for reuse, recyclable materials, and those that should be disposed of, as well as information on potential environmental and health concerns associated with some materials. A NEW APPROACH TO BUILDING DESIGN As society continues to face significant waste and pollution impacts related to conventional building design, renovation, and removal practices, innovators are imagining a future where buildings are designed to consume fewer resources and generate less waste throughout their lifecycle.
Building industry professionals are pioneering the concept of Design for Deconstruction (DfD), sometimes referred to as Design for Disassembly, a technique whose goal is to consider a building’s entire lifecycle in its original design. This includes the sustainable management of all resource flows associated with a building including design, manufacturing of construction materials, operation, renovation, and eventual deconstruction. 51 The typical building lifecycle is a linear one,. Resources are used and eventually discarded with minimal thought of re-cycling or reuse.
The environmental impacts of this approach are sizeable. In terms of waste, if housing replacement rates remain unchanged, over the next 50 years 3. 3 billion tons of material debris will be created from the demolition of 41 million housing units. Even more dramatic is the fact that, if trends in housing design continue, new homes built during this same time period will result in double the amount of demolition debris, or 6. 6 billion tons, when they are eventually demolished. Beyond these waste issues, the energy consumed to produce building materials is having a huge effect globally.
A 1999 United Nations study states that 11 percent of global CO2 emissions come from the production of construction materials. These are the same materials that regularly end up in landfills. 52 The trend in construction practices since the 1950s has only exacerbated these impacts, as buildings progressively contain more complex systems, materials types, and connecting devices, making it more difficult technically, as well as economically, to recover building materials for reuse or recycling.
Unless a sustainable lifecycle approach to building is adopted, most building components in the future will become increasingly more non-renewable, non-reuseable, and non-recyclable. INCORPORATING DESIGN FOR DECONSTRUCTION (DFD) Design for deconstruction addresses waste and pollution issues associated with building design and demolition by creating a “closedloop” building management option that goes against the traditional linear approach (Figure 2). By designing buildings to facilitate future renovations and eventual dismantlement, a building’s systems, components, and materials will be easier to rearrange, recover, and reuse.
It is estimated that the average U. S. family moves every 10 years. Over an average 50-year life p, a home may change hands five times and undergo structural changes to meet each occupant’s needs. Thus, there is potential for multiple renovations over a building’s lifetime, as well as complete building removal to make the land available for a newer building – as has been the trend most recently. DfD can proactively address future occupancy flow through a sensible approach that maximizes the economic value of a structure’s materials, while working to reduce environmental impacts from their renovation and/or removal.
DfD also creates adaptable structures that can be more readily reshaped to meet changing needs of owners. Incorporating DfD into the design of a building comprises four major design goals. All of these goals combine to minimize the environmental footprint of a building. Reusing existing buildings and materials Architects and developers should, to the extent possible, incorporate reused materials in the construction of new buildings.
Besides minimizing waste from disposal of materials from existing building, as well as decreasing resource use and pollution associated with the creation of new materials, incorporating reused materials will help preserve the materials embodied energy, which is the amount of energy consumed to produce the materials . Additionally, supporting the materials reuse market will also help create demand for more used materials. Materials, climatic materials, surface materials, surface treatment Refining process Metals, chemicals cement, fired clay, straw,sawn timber, etc.
Extraction process Ore, stone, clay, oil, timber,plants, etc. Mining Drilling Harvesting The Earth Ore Oil Timber Dumping Waste Use Re-use Recycling Buildin (Source—Bjorn Berg, “The Ecology of Building Materials)Building process REFERENCES * WWW. WIKIPEDIA. ORG * LIFECYCLE CONSTRUCTION RESOURCE GUIDE * EPA Deconstruction and Reuse http://www. epa. gov/epaoswer/non-hw/ debris-new/reuse. htm * EPA Construction and Demolition Debris http://www. epa. gov/epaoswer/non-hw/ debris-new/index. htm VALUE OPTIMIZATION IN RELATION TO BUILDING PROJECTS
A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE , UNIVERSITY OF LAGOS IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF BACHELORS OF SCIENCE (BSc) IN ARCHITECTURE BY WHENU MAUTON . A. 100501059 OCTOBER 2011 INTEGRATED OPTIMIZATION “Optimize human enjoyment in the act of production and you optimize production” — W. Edwards Deming The construction industry often mounts initiatives to increase efficiency and productivity, but assumes the initiatives will gain traction within what is arguably a fragmented and therefore dysfunctional industry.
The reality is that a healthy, integrated industry needs to first be developed, and then optimized. Increased efficiency and productivity will follow. The three-fold aim of this paper is that the reader understand: * First, the organizational structure is optimized. In the performance paradigm, this includes the clarity of structure, roles and responsibilities — all of which need to be reorganized. This enables lasting and integrated team life (as opposed to reshuffling the team from project to project). The supply chain is also to be consolidated in order that the manufacturers, building products and systems are part of the team. Next, the processes are to be optimized. This will be accomplished through: (1) Lean Building, (2) Production Quality, and (3) Process Integration and Automation. * Finally, the object of the performance paradigm — the building itself — is optimized. This requires a management re-orientation toward the total true cost of a development, and the building producers accepting responsibility for the performance of the building operations. While construction productivity has been stagnant — even declining — laments over productivity have been increasing.
Productivity is, of course, a function of the optimization of the production process (productivity = measures of output from process per unit of input). So, to make a given system more productive (whether it’s the producer, process or product), the system is “optimized” to produce more units of output per units of input. With the goal of decisively reversing the productivity decline and the lament incline, this paper proposes some optimization strategies for building systems that create an optimized, efficient and super-productive high performance industry producing high erformance buildings. Building construction and operation have extensive direct and indirect impacts on the environment. Buildings use resources such as energy, water and raw materials, generate waste (occupant, construction and demolition) and emit potentially harmful atmospheric emissions. Building owners, designers and builders face a unique challenge to meet demands for new and renovated facilities that are accessible, secure, healthy, and productive while minimizing their impact on the environment.
Considering the current economic challenges, retrofitting an existing building can be more cost effective than building a new facility. Designing major renovations and retrofits for existing buildings to include sustainability initiatives reduces operation costs and environmental impacts, and can increase building resiliency. Source: EPA, 2004 Recent answers to this challenge call for an integrated, synergistic approach that considers all phases of the facility life cycle.
This approach, often called “sustainable design,” supports an increased commitment to environmental stewardship and conservation, and results in an optimal balance of cost, environmental, societal, and human benefits while meeting the mission and function of the intended facility or infrastructure. The main objectives of sustainable design are to avoid resource depletion of energy, water, and raw materials; prevent environmental degradation caused by facilities and infrastructure throughout their life cycle; and create built environments that are livable, comfortable, safe, and productive.
EPA’s New England Regional Laboratory (NERL) achieved a LEED Version 1. 0 Gold rating. From conception the project was charged to “make use of the best commercially-available materials and technologies to minimize consumption of energy and resources and maximize use of natural, recycled and non-toxic materials. ” Chelmsford, MA While the definition of sustainable building design is constantly changing, six fundamental principles persist. * Optimize Site/Existing Structure Potential
Creating sustainable buildings starts with proper site selection, including consideration of the reuse or rehabilitation of existing buildings. The location, orientation, and landscaping of a building affect the local ecosystems, transportation methods, and energy use. Incorporate Smart growth principles in the project development process, whether it be a single building, campus or military base. Siting for physical security is a critical issue in optimizing site design, including locations of access roads, parking, vehicle barriers, and perimeter lighting.
Whether designing a new building or retrofitting an existing building, site design must integrate with sustainable design to achieve a successful project. The site of a sustainable building should reduce, control, and/or treat stormwater runoff. * Optimize Energy Use With America’s supply of fossil fuel dwindling, concerns for energy independence and security increasing, and the impacts of global climate change arising, it is essential to find ways to reduce load, increase efficiency, and utilize renewable energy resources in federal facilities.
Improving the energy performance of existing buildings is important to increasing our energy independence. Government and private sector organizations are committing to net zero energy buildings in the next decade or so as a way to significantly reduce our dependence on fossil fuel. * Protect and Conserve Water In many parts of the country, fresh water is an increasingly scarce resource. A sustainable building should use water efficiently, and reuse or recycle water for on-site use, when feasible. * Use Environmentally Preferable Products
A sustainable building is constructed of materials that minimize life-cycle environmental impacts such as global warming, resource depletion, and human toxicity. Environmentally preferable materials have a reduced effect on human health and the environment and contribute to improved worker safety and health, reduced liabilities, reduced disposal costs, and achievement of environmental goals. * Enhance Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) The indoor environmental quality (IEQ) of a building has a significant impact on occupant health, comfort, and productivity.
Among other attributes, a sustainable building maximizes daylighting; has appropriate ventilation and moisture control; and avoids the use of materials with high-VOC emissions. Additionally, consider ventilation and filtration to mitigate chemical, biological, and radiological attack. * Optimize Operational and Maintenance Practices Considering a building’s operating and maintenance issues during the preliminary design phase of a facility will contribute to improved working environments, higher productivity, reduced energy and resource costs, and prevented system failures.
Encourage building operators and maintenance personnel to participate in the design and development phases to ensure optimal operations and maintenance of the building. Designers can specify materials and systems that simplify and reduce maintenance requirements; require less water, energy, and toxic chemicals and cleaners to maintain; and are cost-effective and reduce life-cycle costs. Additionally, design facilities to include meters in order to track the progress of sustainability initiatives, including reductions in energy and water use and waste generation, in the facility and on site. REFERENCE * WBDG SUSTAINABLE COMMITTEE