Properties and quality of precast concrete elements deconstructed in ReCreate’s pilots

A process for ensuring the properties of deconstructed precast concrete elements is essential for safe reuse. The properties are important for structural designers when designing a new building with reused elements and evaluating their structural capacity and service-life.

The ReCreate project researches the process of reusing precast concrete elements through four real-life deconstruction and reuse pilots in Europe. The aim is to study different aspects of the whole process, including quality assurance.

To reuse precast concrete elements safely, it is essential to ensure their material properties. Especially when reusing load-bearing structures, certain properties, such as compressive strength, reinforcement details and cover depth of reinforcement, are required for evaluating structural capacity. However, the requirements for testing depend on the requirements of the new application, as the durability requirements may be different in different applications.

This document describes the tests done in each of ReCreate’s four real-life pilots in the different countries (Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Germany).