Reviving the circular building industry. Looking into construction, demolition and reuse from the past to the future.

Despite many efforts, the salvage of building materials from
demolition works still remains a niche activity today. However, the
salvage and reuse of materials was common practice until far into the
twentieth century. Therefore, this research aims to comprehend the
preconditions of a flourishing circular building industry, in order to
reveal opportunities and possibilities for the salvage of materials
during present-day demolitions.

The Brussels’ circular building sector between 1865 and 2025 is
studied to fulfil three research objectives: 1) uncover the parameters
that influence circular building, 2) determine the link between these
parameters and position them within larger socio-economic, political,
technological and cultural trends, and 3) identify their impact on
current practices. These parameters will be studied by means of case
studies of ‘good practices’ that connect the various phases in the
circular industry, from construction over demolition to reuse. They will
be interwoven into an abstract system, that will finally be tested on
contemporary demolition cases. In this way, the research offers, for
the first time, a comprehensive study that covers circular practices
from the nineteenth century to today, in order to identify the most
effective ways to intervene in the contemporary context. As a result,
the research offers a fresh perspective on one of the major
challenges in the building sector.