Design for Reuse

 

VANCOUVER, BC, Nov. 3, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Zosia Brown, PhD, VP of Sustainability for Nexii Building Solutions joined a panel of experts yesterday at Greenbuild 2022 showcasing a recently completed case study to demonstrate that designing buildings for reuse and disassembly can divert up to 99.83% of materials from landfill.

The study, completed in partnership with Light House Sustainability Society, focused on a 700 square-foot modular building assembled in Squamish, BC in 2019. It was conceived from its inception with Design for Reuse in mind, which improved efficiency and enabled disassembly in only six days.

Of the fraction (0.17%) of materials not reclaimed for reuse during disassembly, most these (0.11%), including EPS scraps and metal flashing, were recycled, leaving only .06% of all building materials – approximately two buckets – to be sent to landfill.

The design plans included a panelized wall assembly that increased the feasibility of deconstruction and reuse; standardized bolt connections; ease of access to mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems; consideration of renewal cycles between panel components and layers; and labeling of panels to provide critical information to future assembly teams.

Nexii is reinventing how the world builds – given buildings and construction are responsible for 36% of global energy consumption and 37% of greenhouse gas emissions annually. Buildings made with Nexiite use approximately 31% less embodied carbon than conventional construction materials1 and use, on average, one-third less energy overall, driven largely by a reduction in heating and cooling loads. Nexii’s building process also accelerates standard build times by up to 75% and eliminates nearly all onsite construction waste.2

About Nexii

Nexii Building Solutions Inc. (Nexii) designs and manufactures low carbon buildings and products to address the climate impact of our built environment. With buildings and construction responsible for 36% of global energy consumption and 37% of greenhouse gas emissions annually, sustainable and scalable solutions are urgently needed for net zero buildings. With Nexii’s breakthrough material Nexiite, Nexii enables the rapid assembly of high-quality buildings and infrastructure with reduced end-to-end carbon emissions, near zero waste and less disruption to the community. Sustainability is core to Nexii’s mission to build a vibrant future for people and planet.

For more information, visit www.nexii.com, or connect with us on Instagram (@NexiiBuilds), Twitter (@NexiiBuilds) or on LinkedIn (Nexii Building Solutions).

1 Determined through third-party Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), versus conventional construction baseline such as steel stud and high performance tilt-up concrete and averaged across projects modelled to date.
2 Based on on-site assembly of Nexii commercial retail unit envelope vs. conventional envelope. Nexii’s whole building solution reduces on-site construction waste to near zero through a combination of precision manufacturing, flat-pack transportation, and on-site assembly.