Proposal of a demolition and disassembly methodology for old buildings in order to maximize the material recovery potential based on the LCA results the case study of the Leek municipal workshop building, Westerkwartier in Groningen, Netherlands

Abstract

The investigation of this thesis would aim to measure the environmental performance of materials throughout their lifecycle in an old municipal building, with a public function, by evaluating various environmental impact indicators and the embodied carbon in the materials the building consists of, followed by a proposal of potential ways to reuse or recycle the materials once they reach their end of operational life. The objective is to maximize the resource efficiency of the building after destruction and reconstruction, by utilizing the recycled materials in the new construction. It would eventually shift the urban district towards having a more beneficial environmental footprint, through the footprint enhancement and material recycling of the individual buildings that form it. The focused building is a forty six years old one that needs to be demolished and rebuilt, within the reformation plan of an urban quarter in Westerkwartier district in Groningen, Netherlands.