Design for Material Reuse
Galvanized steel is the perfect circular material to ensure that buildings and structures can be designed with maximum flexibility and to enable construction products to be used across multiple life cycles. Future designs of steel structures will become more modular and utilise bolted connections to ease deconstruction and make components more widely suitable for reuse. Galvanizing creates more value to these reused components as they do not require further protective treatment and the components themselves will be in good condition at the point of reuse.
Galvanized steel will not suffer from demounting and remounting activities, as opposed to painted steel which will need to be repainted or at least repaired. Moreover, galvanizing offers longer lifetime expectations to steel than other coating systems, which allows frequent reuse of the material.
Provisions for greater reuse of steel structures
In addition to its durability, the toughness and abrasion resistance of galvanized steel, allows for multiple reuses of steel components. This has proven itself in a wide variety of applications – from scaffolding that is reused countless times to temporary bridges that are designed for rapid deployment in disaster zones but often become a vital part of the local infrastructure and may enjoy many decades before moving on to their next location.
These same principles and experience with temporary structures and reusable components are now being applied to the design of more complex structures that require flexible solutions for the circular economy
PROGRESS (PROvisions for GREater reuse of Steel Structures) was an EU RFCS-funded project focused on the reuse of single-storey buildings. The study and its recommendations provide additional impetus to the future use of galvanized steel to maximise reuse opportunities.
Galvanized steel solutions are preferable for structures with possible multiple assembling and simantling cycles
The project has delivered recommendations and practical information on the fabrication and detailing of single-storey buildings made from reclaimed steel, and on the design of buildings for future demounting and reuse.
Future optimization of connections and other design details will further reinforce the partnership between galvanizing and steel construction. For example, the use of bolted connections has the dual benefit of enhancing prospects of reuse whilst also increasing the size of sections that can be dipped in a hot dip galvanizing bath.
If designers want to integrate reusable steel elements in the structural part of a building, galvanizing is the ideal coating system.
