DESIGN FOR DURABILITY / RESILIENCE / MAINTAINABILITY

1.1. DESCRIPTION This type of design involves orienting the design towards maximising the useful life of the building or installation without any particular upheaval or change; in particular, the objectives of durability and resilience are achieved by using performance materials that are resistant and able to maintain these characteristics over time, despite use and adverse events. To ensure a long service life it is necessary, at the same time, to facilitate and ensure maintenance of the entire building or its parts, without compromising performance. 1.2. RELEVANCE FOR CIRCULAR BUILDINGS Designing the building so that it maintains its function and performance over time, thanks also to facilitated and planned maintenance, makes it possible to avoid the production of construction and demolition waste, except at the end of its useful life, which with this approach is extended to the maximum. At the same time, the use of high-performance materials means that components do not have to be replaced during the building's life cycle; however, if Circular.buildings maintenance is no longer sufficient, the capacity-oriented design also makes it possible to replace components identified at an early stage with a useful life shorter than that of the entire building: in this way, disused components can be reused or recycled. 1.3. INNOVATION ASPECTS This design approach is similar to the traditional one for buildings with particularly important uses, such as hospitals and universities, or seismic-resistant buildings: the novelty lies in applying the same philosophy to other, more common large buildings, if not to ensure their resilience, then to ensure that their useful life is as long as possible. In this practice, greater attention must necessarily be paid to the drafting of a precise and punctual maintenance plan, but above all to its observance: important is the identification in the design phase of the people involved and the use of digital systems to monitor the need for intervention. Furthermore, manufacturers must invest in research to maintain materials at peak performance for as long as possible, without ever neglecting the aspect of environmental impact, and accompanying the material with all useful maintenance information.

2.1. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS - Selection of materials and building/plant components of the highest quality and with guaranteed long-term performance, including maintenance practices to maintain them at a high level - Adoption of precautions and configurations in the arrangement of structural and plant components so that access for maintenance is guaranteed - Design always according to the principles of redundancy to ensure continuity of operation and safety even in unfavourable situations - Design in full compliance with current regulations, both from a structural point of view and for the safety of electrical and fire protection systems - Simple, symmetrical and regular building configuration - Drafting of an accurate maintenance plan and projects with exact indication of the areas of intervention - Special attention to the most fragile parts of the project (e.g. seismic joints) Circular.buildings

3.1. BENEFITS - Reduced cost of repeated component replacement - Limited amount of waste produced, only at end-of-life - High safety against isolated and destructive events, such as earthquakes - Ease of intervention even in structural components, with less need for highly qualified technicians and without the need for destructive intervention in the building to access it - Maximised guaranteed service life for the entire building and its individual parts - Less need for optimisation processes for the structure and materials, in favour of a wider use of them to ensure maximum performance 3.2. COMPLEXITIES - Optimal planning only for important buildings for which a change of use is not envisaged, even in the long term (e.g. hospitals, gyms, ...); counterproductive choice for small buildings - Impossible to carry out major interventions and/or major configuration changes, or, if possible, too prohibitively expensive