Life cycle cost comparison of Design for Disassembly and conventional prefab concrete buildings

Abstract This study explores the impact of Design for Disassembly (DfD) design solutions on the life cycle costs of a precast concrete building, comparing these costs with those of conventional design solutions. The computational study consisted of subsets for the construction, maintenance and deconstruction and demolition costs, and the generation of values for the reusable concrete components of the frame at the deconstruction stage. Life cycle costs were assessed for an apartment building with four different scenarios. The deconstruction of a DfD building is proven to be significantly more efficient than that of a conventional building (BAU). However, the DfD solution was found to incur higher life cycle costs than the conventional design and crushing demolition. This is due to additional costs in the early stages of construction. Discounting in the life cycle calculation makes the upfront costs seem higher, so the future benefits of reuse appear to be negligible, from a financial point of view. Hence, the results suggest that DfD solutions should not be significantly more expensive than BAU solutions in terms of construction costs. Whilst it is challenging to demonstrate the economic viability of DfD in the absence of financial incentives, it should be noted that, according to the extant literature, DfD solutions have the potential to achieve a significantly lower climate impact throughout the building's entire life cycle when compared to the BAU alternative.