Guidelines for Structural Reuse

Steel Construction Institute (UK) - Guidance on Demountable Composite Construction Systems for UK Practice (2020)

• Description: 90 page document detailing principles of demountable construction, demountable shear connection systems, ultimate limit states, serviceability limit states, and application to office buildings
• Link: Scroll to  "Guidance on Demountable composite construction Systems for UK practice": https://steel-sci.com/structural-steel-reuse-environmental-and-economic.html

Steel Construction Institute (UK) - Structural Steel Reuse - Assessment, Testing and Design Principles (2019)

• Description: 72 page document detailing circular economy marking of reclaimed structural steelwork, design recommendations, assessment of reclaimed steelwork for reuse, responsibilities of holder of stock, testing programs, fabrication issues, and other information, as they pertain to the UK.
• Link: Scroll to "Protocol for reusing structural steel": https://steel-sci.com/structural-steel-reuse-environmental-and-economic.html

FCRBE Reuse Toolkit Material Sheets - Structure and Building Envelope (2021)

• Description: Downloadable tips and case studies for reclaiming structural timber, glued laminated timber, steel beams, concrete shear walls, etc.
• Link: https://www.nweurope.eu/projects/project-search/fcrbe-facilitating-the-circulation-of-reclaimed-building-elements-in-northwestern-europe/news/reuse-toolkit-material-sheets/

City of London Circular Economy Statement Guidance (2022)

• Description: Guidance document and Excel tool for developing buildings according to circularity principles (flexibility, adaptability, reuse, etc.). Applies to large London developments. 
• Link: https://www.london.gov.uk/programmes-strategies/planning/implementing-london-plan/london-plan-guidance/circular-economy-statement-guidance

Reclaimed Structural Steel and LEED Credit MR 3 – Materials Reuse (2010)

• Author: Erika Winters-Downey, S.E., LEED AP
• Description: "How would one go about obtaining salvaged material? How is it tested and/or recertified? Who is responsible for the inspection? All of these are common questions in this rapidly emerging area of structural steel reclamation and reuse. Following are some examples of how reclaimed steel is being incorporated into current and future projects."
• Link: https://www.aisc.org/globalassets/modern-steel/steelwise/052010_steelwise_may.pdf

Studies on Structural Reuse

A Grading Protocol for Structural Lumber and Timber in Historic Structures

• Authors: Ronald W. Anthony, Kimberly J. Dugan, and Deborah J. Anthony 
• Description: The goal of this grading protocol, when combined with a wood-condition assessment, is to change typical decision-making processes by giving engineers and architects the means to grade wood members while facilitating an understanding of the relevance of the grade in relation to building-code requirements.
• Link: https://www.apti.org/assets/docs/Anthony-Dugan-40-2.pdf

Structural design using reclaimed wood – A case study and proposed design procedure

• Authors: Dan Bergsagel and Felix Heisel
• Description: Scientific article published in the Journal of Cleaner Production. "This paper describes the implementation of new processes that allow designers to account for variability in the dimension and mechanical properties of reclaimed wood in a case study design-build project on the Cornell University campus in 2022."
• Link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0959652623024745

Reuse of concrete components in new construction projects: Critical review of 77 circular precedents

• Authors: Célia Küpfer, Maléna Bastien-Masse, Corentin Fivet
• Description: Review of 77 cases of structural concrete component reuse ("Piecewise Reuse of Extracted Concrete in new Structures (PRECS)").
  • Methodology
  • Overview of collected literature and case studies
  • Analysis of trends (over time, in different regions, for pre-cast vs. ready-mix, for different building types and sizes, etc.)
  • Overview of factors in favor of structural concrete component reuse
  • Overview of challenges to structural concrete component reuse
• Link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652622048090

Environmental impact minimization of reticular structures made of reused and new elements through Life Cycle Assessment and Mixed-Integer Linear Programming

• Description:
  • Design of three single-span steel trusses of different topology subject to 100 simulated stocks of reusable elements
  • Simulated stocks assumed variations in cross-sections and lengths, transportation distances, stock availability, etc., and looked to optimize these factors and minimize associated embodied carbon emissions. 
• Link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378778819330439?via%3Dihub