ReAssuRe – Risk Management for ReUse of Construction Components and Building Technology On-Site Testing Procedures

The construction industry needs sustainable solutions to extend the life cycle of building materials and building technology and to re-use building components. Despite the increased interest in re-use components, suitable non-destructive testing methods for products with high requirements are still lacking. This research aims to close a gap by developing test methods for a reliable assessment of the quality of re-used building products.

ReAssuRe aims to facilitate the use of re-use building components in the construction industry by providing reliable test methods, legal frameworks and recommendations for practice. The test processes developed will make it possible to assess the risk of using re-use components, allowing liability models to be derived. This will not only promote sustainability in the construction industry, but also contribute to the reduction of construction waste and emissions.
ReAssuRe first selects typical building components and then develops procedures for on-site testing in existing buildings. To this end, requirements for the components and legal framework conditions are defined and the process is also implemented in practice. In parallel, a risk management network for re-use will be established.

The intended results and findings are:

• Development of low-destructive testing processes: Development of adapted test methods for structurally relevant components and building technology that allow to assess the suitability of components for re-use.
• Proof of concept: Implementation of the developed test processes in representative building objects, recording and analysis of the results to evaluate the effectiveness of the test processes
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• Establishment of an expert network for risk management and liability models for re-use components.