Components reuse in the building sector – A systematic review

Abstract

Widespread reuse of building components can promote the circularity of materials in the building sector. However, the reuse ofbuilding components is not yet a mainstream practise. Although there have been several studies on the factors affecting the reuse ofbuilding components, there is no single study that has tried to harmonize the circumstances affecting this intervention. Through asystematic literature review targeting peer-reviewed journal articles, this study intends to identify and stratify factors affecting thereuse of components of the superstructure of a building and eventually delineate correlations between these factors. Factors identifiedthroughout this study are classified into six major categories and 23 sub-categories. Then the inter-dependencies between the barriersare studied by developing the correlation indices between the sub-categories. Results indicate that addressing the economic, socialand regulatory barriers should be prioritized. Although the impact of barriers under perception, risk, compliance and market subcategoriesare very pronounced, the highest inter-dependency among the sub-categories is found between perception and risk. Itsuggests that the perception of the stakeholders about building components reuse is affected by the potential risks associated with thisintervention.