Demonstrating Real and Affordable Sustainable Building Solutions with Top-level whole life-cycle performance and Improved Circularity

Project Information

DRASTIC

Grant agreement ID: 101123330

DOI

10.3030/101123330

EC signature date 25 September 2023

Start date 1 October 2023

End date 30 September 2027

Funded under

• Climate, Energy and Mobility

Total cost

€ 7 854 997,94

EU contribution

€ 5 957 808,84

Coordinated by

VLAAMSE INSTELLING VOOR TECHNOLOGISCH ONDERZOEK N.V.
Belgium

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - DRASTIC (Demonstrating Real and Affordable Sustainable Building Solutions with Top-level whole life-cycle performance and Improved Circularity)

Reporting period: 2023-10-01 to 2024-09-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Drastic will pave the way for significant whole life-cycle GHG emission reduction in new construction and (deep energy) retrofit by demonstrating affordable innovative circular solutions in 5 different geographical zones, covering different building layers (accounting for 90% of GHG emissions), raw materials (accounting for 72% GHG emissions), buildings typologies (accounting for 80% of all buildings), circular strategies (reaching up to 60% of GHG emission reduction), and local drivers. The demonstrators untap on EU scale the potential of 491 MTCO2-eq savings annually and a financial divergence potential of €33.4 billion annually, within defined market conditions and based on circular business models. To reach this ambitious goal, 23 partners from 8 European countries collaborate together, covering the entire value chain and supported by a co-creation strategy with relevant stakeholders. To assess and validate the solutions, an innovative multi-cyclic performance assessment framework will be developed and applied, integrating multi-cycle LCA, multicycle LCC, circularity and sufficiency for construction and building related products and components. Novel data-driven tools covering quality evaluation, thermal efficiency, automatic identification of assets and their reusability condition, multi-cycle traceability, and social acceptance will be enhanced, demonstrated and combined in a toolbox integrated in a common digital platform, going beyond a digital building logbook. High impact dissemination and communication of results/key deliverables will be led by the World Green Building Council and maximized by its global network. The Drastic project will contribute to the objectives of the EU by demonstrating the feasibility of promising and affordable new technologies, processes and products combined with new business models for faster market uptake, leading towards more sustainable buildings with reduced life-cycle carbon, high life-cycle performance and reduced life-cycle costs.

Hence, Drastic brings together 5 different demonstrators with different innovative designs, construction/renovation methods, and technological circular system solutions, a wide variety of typologies (residential, commercial) and thus distinct target groups (investors, owners), offering scale and diversity, spread across the EU, with distinct local environmental, social, and economic conditions. Product and building process and design guidelines including a multi-cycle LCA (M-LCA) and multi-cycle LCC (M-LCC) approach and circularity and sufficiency indicators, aligned with the EU Level(s) framework for sustainable buildings, to validate performance measurements. Five diverse functionalities combined in a toolbox with novel data-driven tools, integrated in a common digital building data platform (including DBLs) also addressing transparency, quality and traceability, to support the integration of results and deliverables.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

In the first year, the DRASTIC project achieved significant technical and scientific progress, completing a design guidance and assessment framework for sustainability and circularity at both product and building levels. A data collection protocol for multi-cycle sustainability and circularity assessment was developed, along with stakeholder maps for each demonstrator, identifying key actors for ecosystem collaboration. In-depth pre-demonstrations were conducted in various countries, including testing of prefabricated insulation prototypes, reclaimed timber in structural applications, and performance assessments of low-resource mineral wool and sustainable cement substitutions. Each country’s demonstrators provided unique insights into circular construction, from quality check protocols in France to steel harvesting and marking in Spain. Additionally, technical specifications for the traceability platform were defined, with data requirements aligned with current regulations and anticipated trends. The project also engaged stakeholders through workshops, co-creation sessions, and knowledge sharing on circular business models, fostering a collaborative approach to advancing circular solutions in construction, that will be further developed in the next phases.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Deliverable 2.1 the decision tree was developed to offer comprehensible and uniform guidance on the key issues of circularity, sufficiency, and a multi-cycle life cycle approach. Furthermore, the decision tree serves as the starting point for data collection and traceability of the environmental and economic impacts as and sustainability performances, as well as to define the multi-cycle scenarios needed in the assessment framework. The quantitative MLA and LCC assessment results will support the narrative created for the assessed object through the application of the decision tree.
The impact of this deliverable will be further strengthened and refined by comparing it with already existing norms and guidelines such as: CEN/TC350 and the R strategies. This allows to create guidance beyond the state of the art.

The data collection protocol outlined in deliverable 2.2 is designed to support sustainability assessments carried out by CAALA, Madaster, VITO, and Tecnalia for both product and building-level evaluations within the Drastic project. The protocol establishes a harmonized approach to ensure consistent and efficient data capture, enabling comprehensive Multi-cycle Life Cycle Assessments (MLCA), Multi-cycle Life Cycle Costing (MLCC) and circularity assessments. It aims to streamline the data gathering process while sensitizing project participants and future users on the importance these assessments, thereby enhancing stakeholder understanding of the value of accurate and detailed data.

By enhancing digital traceability and data management, the project will facilitate the adoption of circular economy principles and contribute to creating a more sustainable built environment. The platform’s emphasis on traceability, diagnosis of reused assets, and multi-life cycle assessment is expected to improve data management, address current gaps and barriers in data harmonization, and provide a comprehensive digital traceability solution.