DEMOLITION FIRST ERASMUS MC BUILDING
SIZEABLE AMBITION FOR CIRCULAR DEMOLITION
On 27 September 2018, Erasmus MC entered into a contract with the firm Dusseldorp Infra, Sloop en Milieutechniek for the circular demolition of their oldest building on campus. This demolition phase is part of a larger demolition project which will include multiple buildings, such as the old Dijkzigt hospital.
The Erasmus MC moved to new housing in May 2018. They vacated a number of buildings along the ’s Gravendijkwal that will be demolished as ‘circular’ as possible. The demolition project is part of Tranche II, which will be completed by 2022.
Dusseldorp is one of the larger, sustainable demolition companies in the Netherlands, specialised in circular demolition. The tender process was led by Synarchis, together with engineering firm BOOT, which resulted in awarding the contract to Dusseldorp Infra, Sloop en Milieutechniek, the party with the highest score with respect to material reuse. Dusseldorp has indicated that it is able to circulate and reuse even more materials than Erasmus MC requires.
This tender was unique in the fact that one of its selection criteria was the use of the so-called ‘material passport’ from the database of Madaster. This material passport contains a long list of products (2720) and was crucial in awarding the contract. Some of the materials from the material passport have already been bought by housing association Woonstad Rotterdam for one of its housing projects. The materials that become available will be announced on Insert, which links demand to supply (www.insert.nl).
FOUNDATION
To promote reuse at a material, product, element and building level, the authors state that the creation and application of a passport is a necessary first building block: the foundation. Such a passport is a digital record of a building or structure, documenting ownership as well as what the building consists of (both qualitatively and quantitatively), how it was built and where it is located.
DECELERATION
A certain deceleration is currently occurring with respect to digitisation in the construction sector, which is caused either by a lack of clarity, practical impossibilities, or the costs involved. Broadly speaking, there are four main barriers: 1) a lack of standardisation; 2) companies face difficulties in preparing a financial business case; 3) the required data sets and technology still need considerable development; and 4) many things still need to change with respect to culture and behaviour.
PRECONDITIONS
In order to enable large-scale implementation of passports and digitisation in the short term, the report states the following 10 preconditions:
1. The construction chain should jointly deliver the complete registration.
2. Passports should become standardised.
3. A central registration system should provide a single source of truth.
4. Valuable data are to be collected as efficiently as possible.
5. There should be a uniform method of determination.
6. Materials and products should be awarded financial value.
7. An overview should be available of the demand and supply of building materials.
8. Information should be accessible and exchangeable.
9. There should be a shared sense of urgency.
10. The government should provide clear direction.
AUTHORS
The report was authored by:
- Jacco Verstraeten-Jochemsen, Lead Business Strategy Circle Economy.
- Wouter van Twillert, Director C-creators, Chair Platform CB’23 ‘Paspoorten in de Bouw’ (Passports in construction (in Dutch)).
- Jim Teunizen, Partner Alba Concepts.
- Martijn Oostenrijk, Director Madaster Services.