Quality assurance process for reuse of building components

Abstract

Reusing building components has generated discussion increasingly. Current guidelines and practices are not suitable for the reuse process, and therefore new guidelines need to be developed. With new guidelines the quality of reuse can be ensured. The quality assurance process can be divided in five different stages including pre-deconstruction audit, structural condition investigation, deconstruction design and deconstruction, demands for redesign in new building and product approval and authorization. In the process, overall perspective of the building and its structures is required. This can be achieved by studying old documents and doing structural condition investigation. With the results, more exact information about the structural properties of the building components can be obtained. These results can be used in redesigning the components and in product approval. Also, the quality of the deconstruction stage needs to be ensured in order to avoid any effects on the structural properties of reusable building components.