Reports explained

May 27, 2025

Introduction to the report: Legal and technical requirements in reusing precast concrete of the ReCreate project. The full report is available here.

Paul Jonker-Hoffrén, Tampere University

The ReCreate report, Legal and technical requirements in reusing precast concrete, provides a comprehensive analysis of the legal and technical requirements for reusing precast concrete elements in four European countries: Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Germany. It examines regulations at the EU, national, and local levels, focusing on deconstruction and reuse processes, and identifies common challenges and country-specific issues. It represents the understanding of the state of the art until the beginning of 2023. This report is based on general knowledge rather than the experiences of the industrial partners, which will be reported in a forthcoming report. Therefore, some aspects discussed in the current report will be out of date already due to developments in policy.

Deconstruction Norms

Deconstruction and demolition permits are nationally regulated. In Finland and Sweden, the legislation acknowledges reuse and requires demolition permits to consider reusable components. In the Netherlands, a demolition notification is generally sufficient unless environmental laws apply, which can require more comprehensive permits. Germany follows federal and state building codes with more structured requirements. Waste management is governed by the EU Waste Framework Directive, which sets recycling targets but lacks explicit reuse goals, resulting in ambiguity. Finland and Sweden faced uncertainties about whether deconstructed components are classified as waste (until recently), complicating reuse due to administrative burdens. The Netherlands does not consider deconstructed concrete elements as waste if free from hazardous substances, facilitating reuse. This will be tested in the real-life pilot project in the Netherlands, nonetheless. Germany has legal provisions to avoid waste status, but debates continue on their efficacy. Local environmental protection laws generally do not impose special restrictions on deconstruction for reuse in Finland and the Netherlands. Sweden and Germany have raised concerns regarding specific hazardous substances and water protection laws, with Germany expecting clarification through upcoming ordinances. Occupational safety regulations in all countries align with EU directives, ensuring minimum safety standards. Finland and Sweden emphasize public sector and social partner involvement in occupational safety regulations and workplace rules; Germany relies on sector-based organization; the Netherlands supplements national laws with private certification schemes. Detailed work safety plans and checklists guide safe deconstruction practices in all countries at the project level, which are based on national law or decrees.

Norms on Reuse

Technical requirements for reused concrete elements follow the same standards as new materials, primarily based on Eurocodes and national annexes. However, challenges arise in assessing the material properties of reused components due to lack of original documentation and potential degradation, necessitating improved testing standards. Finland and Sweden apply existing standards designed for new products, which may not adequately address reuse-specific concerns. The Netherlands and Germany have developed additional guidelines and standards to better assess existing structures for reuse.

Product approval is nationally controlled, as the EU Construction Products Regulation currently exempts existing products like reused elements. Finland and Sweden lack clear, consensus-based approval processes, leading to ad hoc practices and uncertainty. Germany and the Netherlands have more institutionalized procedures, including certifications and assessment guidelines, though complexities remain. Designer qualifications for reuse projects are regulated nationally; Finland has specific legal requirements and guidelines, while Sweden and the Netherlands have no special legislation, and Germany regulates via state building codes. Building permits for reuse projects generally require case-by-case collaboration with authorities in all countries, reflecting the novelty and evolving nature of reuse practices. Sustainability policies at international, EU, and national levels provide overarching goals supporting reuse but often lack direct enforceability. Recent initiatives in Finland (e.g., circular construction competitions) and municipal programmes in Sweden demonstrate emerging practical incentives for reuse. The Netherlands and Germany integrate sustainability into building codes and climate laws but tend to focus more on operational energy than embodied emissions, indicating room for policy development.

Discussion

Four key cross-cutting barriers hinder large-scale deployment of reuse: (1) ambiguity in waste status and end-of-waste criteria complicates administrative processes; (2) lack of tailored technical requirements for reused materials leads to conservative and cumbersome testing; (3) product approval pathways are unclear or inconsistent, especially in Nordic countries; and (4) sustainability policies are often too general to drive immediate change. The Netherlands stands out positively in waste classification and product approval, while Finland and Sweden are in earlier stages of regulatory adaptation. Germany offers legal options for reuse but faces challenges in standardizing practices. The report emphasizes the need for clearer interpretations, harmonized technical guidelines, streamlined approval processes, and concrete sustainability incentives to accelerate the adoption of reuse.

Conclusion

While the normative frameworks across the four countries share common elements derived from EU directives, their maturity and practical implementation regarding reuse vary significantly. The primary challenge lies not in creating new regulations but in adapting existing ones to explicitly support reuse of building components. Finland and Sweden are developing foundational practices, particularly in product approval, whereas the Netherlands and Germany have more progressive, institutionalized systems. Cross-country knowledge exchange and stakeholder collaboration are vital for overcoming barriers. The report lays the groundwork for further empirical research and policy development to foster circular economy transitions in construction.

The report, as a general overview of legal and technical requirements in the ReCreate project countries, highlights comparative insights across countries, facilitating understanding of shared challenges and unique national circumstances in promoting the reuse of precast concrete elements.

by ReCreate project

May 23, 2025

Introduction to the report: Guide to Coalition Building for Circular Construction of the ReCreate project. The full report is available here.

Paul Jonker-Hoffrén, Tampere University

Circular construction projects involve many actors, similarly to linear construction projects. At present, when construction consortiums are still finding optimal solutions to organizing a circular project, significant effort is needed to coordinate and structure information flows. This derives from differing information requirements between actors internal or external to these projects, because circular projects are not as standardized as linear construction projects. This means that actors in the project, but also authorities, may have a need for very specific information that is produced by some other actor.

The ReCreate report Guide to Coalition Building for Circular Construction is aimed to be a tool to structure information flows for a circular project, to raise awareness for the efforts needed and the role actors play in producing information for other actors. Furthermore, the Guide to Coalition Building also provides a lens to observe what policy aspects may be relevant in a particular project. Current policy is mostly built for the linear construction, so in circular economy projects there is a special need to assess how certain policies apply. These are discussed more fully in another ReCreate report. However, the policies that are relevant include environmental policies, certification and quality assurance policies or norms and environmental impact assessments. In addition, there are local building permit policies. After the publication of the Guide to Coalition Building, it emerged that in many cases waste regulation (with its base in EU law) is also highly relevant. Compliance with all these norms means the partners in a construction partnership need to be aware of what kind of information regulatory actors can or will require.

A core recommendation of the Guide to Coalition Building is that project actors should be in timely, active contact with local authorities about potentially complicated issues. These issues may relate to clarifications to local zoning provisions, but also to the required quality assurance information when applying for permits. As local authorities are usually the issuers of permits, it can be of value to explicitly connect a construction plan to local climate or circular strategies. In some cases, the local authorities may need to request interpretation of provision of norms from other authorities, which will take time. Therefore, it is advised to engage with local authorities pro-actively.

Figure 1. Two coalitions in circular construction.

In the Guide to Coalition Building, it is argued that in an abstract sense, there are two coalitions which have to interact to get to a result: a building permit, and ultimately a circular construction (Figure 1). The first coalition is the construction project coalition, which consists of the actors involved in all phases from (planning) deconstruction to new construction, such as structural engineering firms, architects and the deconstruction firm. The function of this coalition is to produce the information necessary for a construction permit. The phases in the circular value chain (Figure 1, left side) will provide this information, but some actors will have to produce information for other actors, at a cost to them. This information feeds into the processes of the second coalition, the policy coalition, which usually is represented at the practical level by local authorities. The information requirements of this coalition are shaped by EU-level-, national and local policymaking and norms (Figure 1, right side).

Beyond the technical aspects of circular construction processes, actors in the construction sector should be prepared to interact with the policy coalition to find pragmatic solutions and policy innovations to the challenges that arise from policy designed to the linear construction economy. In various stages of the project there are potential challenges, which involve other actors and information requirements. A goal of ReCreate Work Package 8 is to understand and solve these challenges in the real-life pilot projects.

by ReCreate project

May 16, 2025

Introduction to the report Business model canvases for precast concrete element reuse of the ReCreate project. Full report is available here.

Mikko Sairanen, Tampere University

For companies to adopt the novel practice of reusing precast concrete elements, it is essential that they understand what this entails regarding the value that their customers perceive, dynamics of creating and delivering such value, and, of course, turning a profit in the process. In other words, they need to form an understanding of what is the business model for precast concrete element reuse.

To aid the industry in this challenging task, in ReCreate project, WP7 has examined the issue and put together business model canvases (BMCs) for the different types of companies and processes that are needed to realize precast concrete element reuse. The BMC is a popular tool that can quickly communicate the essential elements of a business model, such as the required key activities and resources, customer-related information, and cost and revenue streams.

Three key insights from the BMC analysis are discussed here. First, precast concrete element reuse holds significant business potential, but issues of economic feasibility remain. We found that labour costs are the biggest barrier to address in order to build competitive business cases out of concrete element reuse. While savings can be attained in material and waste management costs, time-consuming deconstruction and element refurbishment processes challenge profitability. This issue can, however, be greatly alleviated through learning and gradual scaling of reuse processes. In addition, appropriate policy mixes are needed to economically incentivize reuse compared to virgin concrete element production.

Second, the business models of the value chain are heavily affected by value chain organization, particularly regarding vertical integration. Within the ReCreate pilot projects, we have observed both so-called decentralized and centralized organization models. A decentralized model means that the companies of the value chain adopt rather well-defined tasks such as deconstruction or element refurbishment and that the value chain is built on collaborations rather than coordination from a single company. In a centralized model, however, one company vertically integrates various value chain functions and thus designs a new overarching business model for concrete element reuse. The optimal way to organize the value chain depends on the regional business environment and markets, but we found that the focal company in the centralized model can often execute several reuse subprocesses very efficiently, ensure smooth data management, and, crucially, match emerging demand with specific deconstruction projects early on. These attributes of vertical integration can support building attractive business models in the emerging markets of reclaimed concrete elements.

Lastly, we highlight that the business models need to not only work at the level of identified company types within the ReCreate pilot projects, but also at the level of any subprocess that could be considered a standalone business process in the future, as well as at the level of the whole value chain. Therefore, we also analysed BMCs for the key supporting processes of quality management, storage, and logistics, as well as for the system level (picture below).

All the BMCs are published in the ReCreate project as Business model canvases for precast concrete element reuse and can be found through the project webpage.