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Adaptability is one key aspect in making housing more sustainable. One major approach to adaptability is internal transformability of buildings, i.e. the possibility to make modifications to the spaces and their equipment within the existing building envelope. This aspect is often taken into consideration in the design and implementation of office buildings. However, in housing the situation is different, and internal transformability is very seldom implemented in apartment buildings. There is a lack of studies for the reasons for this. In this article we take a look at the barriers to internal transformability of apartment buildings in two Nordic countries, Finland and Denmark. We compare the situations in both countries, and highlight their similarities and differences. The research is based on interviews of Finnish and Danish architects who have been involved in designing such buildings within the last 20 years. The interviews show that the disinterest of housing developers has been the main barrier to implementing internal transformability. Another important barrier is the developers’ cost-optimization. Secondary barriers were related to lack of solutions in building services that would support internal transformability. Additionally, secondary barriers were related to common construction techniques, regulations, and building conventions. Major barriers were similar in both countries. However, some differences in the secondary and other barriers between the two countries also exist.

PurposeAgeing populations induce needs to adapt existing housing. With ageing, the number of frail old people, who require assistance in daily life, is also increased. Converting existing housing into assisted living enables them to remain in their community while receiving necessary support and care. The purpose is to investigate whether post-war mass housing is spatially appropriate for adaptation into group homes for older people.Design/methodology/approachThe research material is attained from Finland. Spatial requirements for group homes are drawn from 130 units built or renovated during 2000–2015. Spatial characteristics of mass housing are mapped from 105 apartment buildings built in the 1970s. The latter are matched with the former by comparing the connectivity of layouts, sizes of units and the numbers and sizes of individual spaces.FindingsGroup homes typically utilize a linear layout, which can easily be created in apartment buildings. Individual spaces of a group home fit apartment buildings effortlessly. Whole group home units mostly prove to be spatially feasible but result in looser dimensioning than is typical in existing units. The mass housing stock can be considered a spatial reserve for adaptation into group homes.Originality/valueThis is the first study to employ a large-scale, multi-case spatial mapping approach to analyse the adaptability properties of mass housing into assisted living. The findings pertain primarily to the Finnish context, but a methodology is presented which can be applied to other countries and also to other spatial functions.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to discuss the relation between building conservation and circular economy (CE), which are often erroneously seen as inherently contradictory to one another. Design/methodology/approach The work draws from a comparative approach. The paper reviews a body of literature on architectural conservation and CE to establish an understanding on the state-of-the-art for both disciplines separately. Then, the relation between thereof is developed through a theoretical discourse. Findings Both architectural conservation and CE aim at safeguarding value, although they define “value” differently. Fabric-focused conservation and CE favor minimal intervention to material, albeit they arrive at this conclusion from different bases. Consequently, both approaches struggle with the low cost of virgin resource extraction and waste production and the high cost of human labor in contemporary Western societies. CE could be harnessed for building conservation by adopting its vocabulary and methodology, such as lifecycle assessment and material flow analysis. Transitioning toward CE can help increase the preservation of built heritage while redefining what is meant by “heritage” and “waste.” Originality/value Prior to this paper, there have been no articles addressing the relationship of the concepts explicitly and to this extent. The paper provides a theoretical basis for further discourse and outlines some implications of CE for the construction and built heritage disciplines.

Research has identified cities as potential urban mines for recovering secondary construction materials. Studies typically focus on stocks or flows of bulk materials on high abstraction levels. To enable a shift of focus toward higher levels of circular economy, such as waste minimization, there is a need for a more detailed understanding of the dynamics that contribute to the waste flows, building replacement in particular. This paper examines the characteristics and location of the stocks and flows of buildings, both residential and non‐residential, in the city of Tampere, Finland, over the last 20 years. Statistical and geographical analyses are performed on the building stock, new construction, and demolition in Tampere to unveil patterns pertaining to stock change and building replacement. The study shows that these patterns vary significantly between buildings of different function. Spatially confined redevelopment areas within the city structure, that is, brownfields and grayfields, whose industrial and commercial functions yield to housing and mixed residential–commercial use, make up major arenas for replacement. Policy‐making should acknowledge that urban planning stirs these waste flows and incorporate their conscious prevention and management on its agenda.

This document is the Project Handbook for the ReCreate project. The purpose of the handbook is to support the ReCreate partners in implementing the project activities. It should be understood as an internal guidebook and a reference for the project execution. The handbook contains pieces of key information from the Grant and Consortium Agreements in an easily understandable and accessible format. It is a dynamic document that will be updated as needed throughout the lifetime of the project. publishedVersion

This document is the Quality Assurance Plan for the ReCreate project. The document describes the procedures to be used throughout the project to coordinate the timely delivery of high-quality deliverables, other publications, and project outcomes. This plan will act as a guide for the project leadership to ensure that quality is assured in due course before deliverables and/or other publications are submitted. In addition, the plan will help all project partners to understand their responsibilities in terms of the quality of project processes, deliverables and outcomes. The plan defines the steps of quality assurance to make it easy for the responsible partners to identify the tasks that are important for ensuring high-quality outputs and sufficient communications between relevant partners. It helps to monitor the project’s progress and to foresee difficulties that may result in delays, and defines actions to be undertaken in the occurrence of such situations. publishedVersion

Purpose When dwellings fail to respond to residents’ needs, housing will suffer from segregation and buildings will possibly be demolished ahead of their time. This paper focuses on the lack of variation in the sizes of dwellings as a factor in residential segregation. It examines this issue in the context of Finnish mass housing built in the 1960s and 1970s. The purpose of the paper is to review how mass housing layouts can be adapted to produce the currently absent flat sizes. Design/methodology/approach The paper operates at the intersection of human geography, building stock research and adaptability research. First, statistical data are utilized to investigate how dwellings and households of different sizes are distributed over the Finnish housing stock. Second, the building layouts of mass housing are examined in detail. Third, the potential that flats in mass housing have for size modification is reviewed. Findings There is a disparity of available dwelling sizes between different housing types, and statistics show that the proportion of large households has decreased significantly in blocks of flats over the last decades. The lack of large dwellings in mass housing may contribute as one factor to the segregation of the neighborhoods built in the 1960s and 1970s. The findings show how the variation of apartment sizes can be increased in mass housing. Originality/value The housing stock is rarely examined in detail in segregation research, even though it is a major determinant for a city’s social structure. This paper argues that to address segregation sustainably, it is necessary to understand the housing stock better and to view it as an adaptable asset.

Previous studies have shown that temperatures inside glazed balconies are almost without exception higher than those of outside air. This is due to the space's ability to capture and store the building's heat losses and solar radiation. The interior temperatures and energy saving effects of glazed balconies are, however, not particularly good in Finland, because the implemented solutions are not optimized for these issues. The purpose of this study is to introduce simplified evaluation methods for the energy saving and interior air temperature evaluation of glazed spaces and to verify the method reliably with the help of measured and simulated values of typical Finnish 1970s apartment blocks. The presented method can be used for optimizing and showing the energy saving impact as well as the mean, maximum and minimum temperatures of different type of glazed spaces in the preliminary design stage. The results show that the accuracy of the method is sufficient for designing if nine parameters are changed at most. The accuracy is affected by the number of changes made in relation to the typical 1970s apartment blocks in Finland, which was chosen as a starting point for the method's development.

In the fields of archaeology, art history and history, spolia have traditionally been studied as phenomena of the past. Today, the reuse of salvaged construction components and materials is primarily justified by its economic and ecological benefits, while its architectural and experiential qualities are much less discussed, if at all. Therefore, this article has two focuses, one more conceptual, and the other, more practical. Firstly, the article suggests extending the concept of spolia to contemporary architecture and discusses the usefulness of the concept in evaluating experiential values in contemporary constructions that make use of reclaimed parts. Secondly, it evaluates the potential of spoliation as a modern design tool in search of a more complex and historicity-based architectural expression. This potential is examined by defining the requirements for the extended concept, and through analyzing examples of contemporary design. Although the main focus of this article is on contemporary architecture based on old building components, the topic also has obvious implications for heritage management. acceptedVersion

Vacant housing has been associated with a variety of interests from economic implications and consequences for the urban structure to the possibility of providing housing for the homeless. In addition to these social and financial aspects, unused buildings have resources embedded in them. They take land from other activities and contain refined natural resources in the form of building components and materials. Therefore, empty buildings can be regarded as reserves for housing and repositories for urban mining, i.e. material extraction. In doing so, these buildings contribute to the resilience of cities. This geographical and statistical study on residential vacancies is situated in Finland, where empty homes may also keep using energy and producing emissions. The research material consists of a vast dataset of all residential buildings with vacancies in Finland in mid-2014, a total of 275 486 buildings with 1 100 267 occupied and 378 802 unoccupied dwellings (52% of the Finnish housing stock). The paper shows several characteristics that increase the understanding of vacancies and their role in the dynamics of the building stock. Public policy should address the issue of vacancy, not only because of social and economic implications but also because of its environmental impacts and opportunities. acceptedVersion

Puu on Suomessa merkittävä, ellei merkittävin rakennusmateriaali. Olemassa olevasta rakennuskannastamme suurin osa, 45%, on rakennettu puusta. Kaikesta rakennus- ja purkujätteestä yksi kolmasosa on puuta, toisen kolmasosan koostuessa betoni- ja tiilijätteestä ja lopun muista materiaaleista. Näin puuta voidaan jopa pitää merkittävimpänä purkujätejakeenamme.Tällä hetkellä purkupuuta ei hyödynnetä lähes lainkaan materiaalina, vaan lähes kaikki siitä poltetaan energiaksi. EU:n jätedirektiivi, jonka määräykset on siirretty Suomen kansalliseen lainsäädäntöön vuoden 2011 jätelaissa, kuitenkin edellyttää, että kokonaisten tuotteiden uudelleenkäyttö on asetettava energia- ja uusiokäytön edelle. Tämä raportti tarkastelee rakennuksista peräisin olevan puretun puumateriaalin uudelleenkäytön mahdollisuuksia rakentamisessa ko. materiaalin ominaisuuksien ja rakenteille sekä rakennuksille asetettavien vaatimusten näkökulmista. Purettua materiaalia määrittää voimakkaasti se, mistä rakennustyypeistä se on peräisin. Määrällisesti merkittävin purettu puurakennustyyppi ovat pientalot. Niiden purkaminen kohdistuu erityisesti jälleenrakennuskauden ja 1900-luvun alun rakennuskantaan, jolloin pääasiallisia rakentamistapoja ovat olleet ranka- ja hirsirakentaminen. Muita merkittäviä purettuja puurakennustyyppejä ovat liike- ja toimistorakennukset, julkiset rakennukset, teollisuusrakennukset sekä varastot. Näissä rakennustyypeissä purkamisen volyymit kohdistuvat selvästi uudempaan rakennuskantaan, erityisesti 1980-luvun rakennuksiin. Näille leimallisia rakentamistapoja ovat liimapuiset pilari-palkkirakenteet sekä kolminivelkehät.Raportissa esitellään em. rakentamistapojen ominaispiirteet, niissä käytetyt puiset rakennusosat tyypillisine mittoineen sekä tavanomaiset osien väliset liitostavat. Uusista puurakentamistavoista sivutaan lisäksi massiivipuulevyrakentamista (esim. CLT), koska sen käyttöä halutaan tällä hetkellä lisätä kerrostalotuotannossa, jolloin rakennusosien purettavuus ja uudelleenkäytettävyys olisi hyvä ratkaista jo ennen järjestelmien laajamittaista käyttöönottoa.Selvityksessä arvioidaan puisten rakennusosien välisten liitosten purettavuutta ja purkamisen tuottamien rakennusosien ja puumateriaalin ominaisuuksia uusiin rakennusosiin ja neitseelliseen puutavaraan verrattuna. Lisäksi esitetään tiivistelmä rakentamista koskevien määräysten muuttumisesta, sillä normien kiristykset paitsi selittävät muutoksia rakentamistavoissa, myös asettavat reunaehtoja vanhojen rakennusosien käyttömahdollisuuksille. Alkuperäiseen rakennukseen verrattuna rakennusosien uudelleenkäyttö edellyttääkin usein muutoksia rakenteisiin tai rakennejärjestelmään, esimerkiksi eristyksen lisäämistä, jännevälin lyhentämistä tai palkiston tihentämistä.Kaikista puurakenteista on saatavissa uudelleenkäytettäviä puuosia, mutta toiset rakennejärjestelmät soveltuvat silti uudelleenkäyttöön toisia paremmin. Uudelleenkäytön liiketoimintaedellytyksiä loisi erityisesti lainsäädännön selkiyttäminen uudelleenkäytettävien rakennusosien suhteen sekä lajittelu-, laatu- ja lujuusluokitusten luominen.

Several authors have successfully created and employed vintage cohorts and housing typologies in research addressing energy renovation needs in the existing dwelling stock. This paper suggests that the idea of types would be useful in creating living quality-related renovation and adaptation concepts for homes. These concepts could be used for increasing the accessibility and individuality of flats and easing life in cramped conditions by means of design. Therefore, the study tests the approach by examining the plan design of flats in one cohort: the Finnish 1960–80s' dwelling stock. A total of 320 apartment blocks with 8745 flats in 51 cities are examined. The study identifies 18 different types of flats, which are based on 10 basic layouts, representing over 80% of all flats. Although the housing production of this era was characterized by cost-efficiency and industrialized prefabrication technologies, the result can be deemed somewhat surprising. This is because the building layouts were never standardized in Finland: only the production technology was standardized. The identified flat types are estimated to cover as much as one-third of all existing Finnish flats. These findings provide future opportunities for creating new mass-tailored renovation concepts. acceptedVersion

Demolition of buildings is one fundamental but little studied factor participating in the dynamics of building stocks. This paper applies an explorative research strategy and studies the characteristics and location of demolished buildings in Finland as well as motives behind the demolition decisions. A statistical and geographical analysis was performed on a data set of all 50 818 buildings demolished in Finland between 2000 and 2012. The study shows that in the Finnish context, the amount of demolition, the size of the community, demographic development and construction activity are all interconnected. In general, the larger the community, the more it gains inhabitants and the more is built as well as demolished. The data confirms that removals from the building stock are a result of conscious deliberation; sudden destruction and gradual deterioration due to abandonment play minor roles. Non-residential buildings dominate the demolished floor area. In addition, they are much larger and younger at the time of demolition than residential buildings, which consist primarily of detached houses. Demolitions are geographically concentrated: cities covering little over 5% of Finland’s area are accountable for 76% of demolished floor area; and city cores with the area of only 0,2% for as much as 44%. acceptedVersion

A remarkable share of European mass housing was built with large-panel systems during the 1960s and 1970s. In many countries, this stock is already being demolished or demolition is discussed due to vacancies or social problems. This trend may result in the creation of an unforeseeable amount of concrete waste. Simultaneously, EU has issued the Waste Framework Directive aiming at reuse instead of recycling. Unlike in situ cast concrete, reclaimed prefabricated concrete panels from mass housing carry the potential for reuse. The purpose of this study is to review the reuse potential embedded in Finland's mass housing stock from the perspective of the dimensions of the panels and spaces, i.e., their suitability for architectural (plan) design. The research material consists of architectural drawings of 276 blocks of flats that contain over 26 000 prefabricated wall panels and nearly 14 000 hollow-core slabs, the dimensions of which are compared to current norms and guidelines for dimensioning living spaces. The technical prerequisites for reuse are reviewed with the help of literature. The study results in identifying an inventory of panels typical to Finnish precast concrete construction, which, in principle, should not exist because the building plans were not standardized but were supposed to be unique. The panels are found to be still usable in architectural (plan) design of detached houses, which form one third of annual residential production in Finland. acceptedVersion

Rakennusten purkaminen keskittyy Suomessa kasvukeskuksiin: sitä enemmän puretaan mitä enemmän rakennetaankin. Suurin osa 2000-luvulla purettujen betonirakennusten neliömetreistä on peräisin teollisuus- ja varastohalleista sekä liike- ja toimistorakennuksista. Asuinkerrostalojen purkaminen on toistaiseksi ollut vähäistä. On kuitenkin todennäköistä, että betonirakennusten purkaminen vain lisääntyy tulevaisuudessa. Betonirakentamisen volyymistä johtuen pienikin kasvu betonirakennusten purkamisessa lisää betonijätteen määrää ja prosenttiosuutta huomattavasti. EU:n jätedirektiivi vuodelta 2008, jonka mukaiseksi Suomen jätelakia muutettiin 2011, määrittelee, että kokonaisten tuotteiden valmistelu uudelleenkäyttöön on asetettava murskaavan materiaalikierrätyksen edelle. Vaikka useimpia elementtijärjestelmiä ei ole erityisesti suunniteltu elementtien ehjänä purkamista ja uudelleenkäyttöä silmälläpitäen, on erilaisissa koehankkeissa saatu siitä myös positiivisia kokemuksia. Suomen varsin nuoresta rakennuskannasta huolimatta siinä esiintyy huomattavasti korjaustarvetta. Tällaisten säälle alttiina olleiden rakenteiden uudelleenkäyttö on aina selvitettävä tapauskohtaisesti. Sellaisenaan niillä ei ole mahdollista saavuttaa nykyisin yleisesti vaadittavaa vähintään 50 vuoden käyttöikää. Sen sijaan rakennusten sisäolosuhteissa olevat rungot ovat yleensä moitteettomassa kunnossa. Rakennusten sisäilmaongelmat ovat jo pitkään olleet yksi merkittävä korjaustarvetta ja usein myös rakennusten purkamiseen johtava tekijä. Sisäilmaongelmat ovat hyvin tyypillisesti paikallisia ja ne syntyvät usean eri tekijän yhteisvaikutuksesta. Rakenneosien uudelleenkäytön kannalta huomionarvoista on, että sisäilmailmaongelmaisissakin rakennuksissa on yleensä lukuisia rakenneosia, joissa ei ole minkäänlaisia kosteus- tai mikrobivaurioita. Rakenneosien uudelleenkäyttöön vaikuttaa merkittävästi rakennuksen ja sen materiaalien ikä, rakennuksen käyttötarkoitus ja rasitus, jolle rakenteet ovat altistuneet sekä uusi käyttötarkoitus. Suurin uudelleenkäyttöpotentiaali on sellaisilla betonielementeillä, jotka voidaan irrottaa ja uudelleen asentaa helposti. Uudelleenkäyttöä suunniteltaessa pitää ottaa huomioon, että betonirakenteet, jotka on alun perin suunniteltu sisäympäristöön, eivät saa altistua uudessa käyttötarkoituksessa alkuperäistä ankarammalle rasitukselle. Runkorakenteiden merkittävin vaurioitumisriski on purkamisen ja kuljettamisen sekä muun käsittelyn aikana. Erityisesti aukollisten elementtien purkamisessa vaurioitumisriski on suuri. Betonielementtirakentamista ohjaavat normit ja ohjeet ovat muuttuneet useasti elementtirakentamisen alkuajoista lähtien. Kuormitukset ja rakenteiden kapasiteetit on tarkistettava aina tapauskohtaisesti ja tarvittaessa suunniteltava rakenteiden vahvistukset. Nykyiset lämmöneristysmääräykset edellyttävät myös lisälämmöneristystä vanhoihin ulkoseinäelementteihin. Pilari-palkkirunkoisen hallin hiilijalanjälkitarkastelut puoltavat hallin rungon uudelleenkäyttöä, sillä merkittävimmän hiilidioksidipäästöt syntyvät betonielementtien valmistamisesta. Elementtien kuljettamisen päästöt ovat vähäisiä verrattuna elementin valmistukseen, mutta ne on otettava huomioon hallin uudelleenkäytön hiilijalanjälkitarkasteluissa.

In Western Europe, many large housing estates have experienced spirals of intertwined physical and social decline. Such estates have wound up at the bottom of the housing hierarchy, which is manifested as high turnovers and vacancies. This qualitative multi-case study contributes to the research on the sustainable management of declining neighbourhoods’ housing stocks. The study learns from four individual cases in which vacancies were tackled with an extreme architectural transformation. In the investigated cases, large-panel buildings were partially deconstructed and renovated, and the reclaimed concrete panels were reused for new construction nearby. The approach integrates demolition, renovation and new construction − the three characteristic building stock management strategies in disadvantaged neighbourhoods. The cases are located in Sweden (Gothenburg, 1984), the Netherlands (Middelburg, 1986), Germany (Berlin, 2004) and Finland (Raahe, 2010). Deconstruction was the landlords’ way to manage their assets in the face of vacancies and social problems in relatively young, unamortized buildings. The projects proved technically feasible, yet they have been criticised for their economic and social implications. Nonetheless, the approach seems to have contributed to extending the life cycles of the buildings in question, and it has the potential to improve the quality of life in large housing estates. publishedVersion

The BIM-aided pre-deconstruction audit process is mainly a process of collecting and digitalizing data of precast concrete elements in a donor building, from which they will be deconstructed. The digital information is stored in a database that architects and structural designers can use when designing a new building with reused precast concrete elements. The ReCreate project tests the process of harvesting and reuse of precast concrete elements in four real-life projects in Europe. The goal is to gather knowledge in a wide range of topics directly connected to the reuse of precast concrete elements in structures of new buildings. By reusing these elements, they get a second life and the environmental impact of construction a new building is significantly reduced. The insights gained in the pilot projects contribute to a kind of ‘roadmap’ for collection information on donor buildings and their precast concrete elements in what we call a ‘pre-deconstruction audit’ (as opposed to the more familiar ‘pre-demolition audit’). The audit process contains all the steps necessary to start an efficient and (structurally) safe deconstruction process of a donor building. The audit process starts by collecting data from various archives and the internet, such as Google Maps and Street View. The data is entered into a visual database, a 3D BIM model. This 3D BIM model offers great advantages in managing and validating the collected data. To validate the data, determine its reliability and complete missing data, a visual inspection is performed. Additional testing supports the data and the reliability of the data. The information obtained is incorporated into the 3D BIM model in order to create a final, complete and reliable 3D BIM database containing all the necessary information of the precast concrete elements. The roadmap for collecting the data, creating a 3D BIM model (database), verifying and managing the data of the donor building and precast elements is laid down in this document as a recommendation. publishedVersion