Environmental impact assessment of end-of-life scenarios for steel buildings

Abstract

Environmental sustainability requires all business sectors to decrease the environmental impact associated with the delivery of their services and products. An efficient response from the building sector requires research aimed at the minimisation of the environmental impact of buildings throughout their life cycle, from construction to demolition. The end of a building’s service life can critically influence the total environmental impact, particularly with building technologies such as steel construction. The purpose of the current research was the assessment of the environmental impact caused by different end-of-life scenarios as can be applied to steel buildings. An existing residential steel building is used for the calculations, while the results allow for the comparison between the different end scenarios concerning the main structural materials used, namely the structural steel. Conclusions drawn include the formation of a clear perspective on the environmental impact benefits that can be achieved at the end of a steel building’s life cycle and the positive effects of the steel construction technology as applied to building projects in terms of environmental sustainability. The increased potential of the reuse and relocation scenarios in terms of environmental sustainability are also highlighted.

Keywords:

• end scenarios
• environmental impact assessment
• life cycle
• steel buildings
• structural steel
• life cycle assessment (LCA)

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.