Paving the way towards circularity in the building sector. Empa’s Sprint Unit as a beacon of swift and circular construction

Abstract In order to achieve the CO 2 targets stipulated within Paris Agreement, future buildings must be constructed in such a way, that their emission profile will close zero. this, radical shift towards circular construction manner which encompasses topics like material reuse (i.e. design for multiple lifecycles), design-for-disassembly (allowing maximum recovery of materials and minimization waste) promoted against todays, conventional practices. Furthermore, current Covid-19 pandemic has shown more flexible manner, adaptable changing needs as quickly possible – including new types needs. A transition practice requires also approaches Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), taking into account issues circularity or life cycle materials. Conventional LCA methods fail deliver trustworthy results they are designed assess products have only single cycle. this context, newly unit, set embodiment principle incorporates all above-mentioned concepts form cluster office spaces, been integrated research building NEST ( N ext E volution S ustainable Building T echnologies) platform located at Empa campus Dübendorf (Switzerland), where novel technologies can tested validated under realistic conditions. Its name: Sprint . paper, environmental performance is assessed through LCA, using three different EN15804 method, Product Environmental Footprint method Linear Degressive approach with latter two considering materials, while each one having an own, distinctive allocation rule split impacts between current, previous subsequent lifecycles.