IMPLEMENTATION OF DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES

1.1. DESCRIPTION Digital technologies can be quite useful in all phases of a building's life, from design to end-oflife: they allow continuous monitoring of the building and its needs, better collaboration between the professionals involved, and overall project optimisation. They are also supportive of many of the other best practices identified, such as DfD, DfA, general tracking of material flows, whether virgin or reused, and more broadly efficiency-oriented design. 1.2. RELEVANCE FOR CIRCULAR BUILDINGS The use of digital technologies is vital for a life-cycle approach: in particular, it allows the optimisation of the use of materials and resources, both in terms of concrete design and by linking stakeholders in the supply chain, thus acting on logistics and production. It allows access to the building's data at any time, both at the level of materials, monitoring its performance and tracking the interventions to which it is subject, and of energy and water consumption: in this way, circularity, with maximum reuse and/or recycling, is maximised for all resources. Circular.buildings 1.3. INNOVATION ASPECTS A highly technology-driven approach to building design and management is now recognised as the innovation most needed for the transition to a circular sector: it imposes itself as a solution to the traditional supply chain problems of extreme fragmentation and lack of collaboration. This innovation affects all those involved in the life cycle: first and foremost, designers, who must be trained to use BIM tools to be able to integrate their work with other professionals; construction companies must also adapt, especially with regard to the use of cloud-based site data management tools. This digital transformation is highly central to achieving circularity in the sector: in the coming years, those who are not ready to fill the technology gap are destined to be excluded from the supply chain.

2.1. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS - Integration of sensors and home automation in buildings - Realisation of the Digital Twin of the building in a BIM environment, also thanks to computer vision technologies for the digital reproduction of components - Use of drones (or Lidar and Laser Scanner) for site and building survey and control - Support of IoT technologies for real-time data transmission - Introduction of Machine learning (AI) to predict maintenance and intervention needs - Use of project management software - Creation of a cloud environment for sharing useful information for building operations - Use of GIS technology - Modelling and 3D printing of components Circular.buildings

3.1. BENEFITS - Possibility of creating a Digital Twin of the building of which one knows in real time the requirements, the quantities of materials present, the operations to be carried out on it and how to intervene, especially in disassembly - Optimisation of each designer's work, having a single model where everyone can contribute and pay attention to interference, e.g. with regard to installations, avoiding design errors - Comprehensive information on the building is easily available at any time by those involved - Ensuring safety and well-being for building users through the inclusion of sensors and automation/domotics systems - Facilitated identification of opportunities for recovery and recycling of components Circular.buildings 3.2. COMPLEXITIES - Difficulties in transition to a more digital approach by designers and companies with more ‘traditional’ ways of working - Higher costs to enable continuous monitoring and to survey the whole building by points and in general for the introduction of digital tools - Lack of economic incentives for the introduction of digital tools - Need for active and continuous collaboration of all stakeholders in the different phases of the building's life - Continuous updating of technologies to avoid obsolescence - Perception by stakeholders that digital tools can disproportionately replace human labour and lead to unemployment