{"id":1833101,"date":"2026-03-18T15:30:42","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T12:30:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1833101"},"modified":"2026-03-18T15:30:42","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T12:30:42","slug":"urban-mining-reusing-old-materials-for-new-constructions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1833101","title":{"rendered":"Urban mining: Reusing old materials for new constructions"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/static.dw.com\/image\/76414946_6.jpg”]<\/p>\n

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https:\/\/p.dw.com\/p\/5Acwj<\/span><\/div>\n<\/section>\n
Salvaged material at Rotor DC in Brussels includes doors, floor tiles, bathroom fixtures and lightsImage: Martin Kuebler\/DW<\/small><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

Picking through a crate of reclaimed floor tiles, Micheal Ghyoot pulls out a model with a blue, gray and white art nouveau motif.<\/p>\n

“These are easy to like, because they have this floral pattern,” said Ghyoot, a researcher specializing in architectural\u00a0reuse, holding up the square cement tile once common in many homes built in Belgium in the early 20th century. “And in the ’30s and ’40s, they started producing more modern patterns, and these are super interesting as well.”<\/p>\n

The crate is just one of dozens containing tiles of varying styles, sizes and colors, all waiting to be cleaned and sorted for resale at Rotor DC<\/a>, a Brussels-based cooperative specialized in salvaged building materials.<\/p>\n

\"Workers
Incoming shipments, including these hand-painted tiles recovered from the workshop of Belgian artist Agnes Emery, are sorted and cleaned before being sold for reuse at Rotor DCImage: Martin Kuebler\/DW<\/small><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In a nearby warehouse, tall, solid wood doors complete with original handles are lined up along the wall, next to several large, gold-tinted windows rescued from a mid-20th century office building. On the grass outside, a photographer is arranging bathroom sinks on the wet grass, to photograph for the online store.<\/p>\n

Since opening its store\u00a0in a former office building in late 2016, Rotor DC has been promoting the concept of urban mining<\/a> in Brussels. Material scouters seek out buildings slated for demolition, and experts carefully rescue anything that can be reused elsewhere, from Murano glass light fixtures to solid oak flooring and handmade decorative brickwork.<\/p>\n

It’s not the only such organization in Belgium, and similar stores exist across Europe, North America and elsewhere. But\u00a0the Rotor design practice also provides guidance for projects looking to use reclaimed components, and publishes research on sustainability, circularity and the material economy.<\/p>\n

Construction sector has a huge environmental footprint<\/h2>\n

The reuse of construction materials isn’t a new concept. Medieval builders, for example, used bits of ancient Roman structures to save time and money, and some of those buildings are still standing today \u2014 especially in Rome. But industrialization and modern manufacturing methods, especially in the 20th century, shifted the focus away from reuse.<\/p>\n

\"A
Structures built in Cibyra, in what is now southern Turkey, used elements of Roman buildings in their constructionImage: Rainer Hackenberg\/picture alliance<\/small><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“The whole construction system \u2014 procurement, liability, regulation, scheduling, insurance, standards \u2014 was built around new materials,” said Areti Markopoulou, academic director at the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia. “Direct component reuse in original form \u2014 windows, doors, beams, facade elements, sanitary fixtures, flooring \u2014 is still less widespread than lower-grade recycling or downcycling.”<\/p>\n

Reuse of building components may seem straightforward, but Markopoulou said it comes with an array of challenges: careful deconstruction, storage, certification and matching supply with new projects.<\/p>\n

\n

Urban mining: Reusing old materials for new constructions<\/h2>\n

“We know how to crush buildings very efficiently, but we are still learning how to disassemble them intelligently,” she said.<\/p>\n

As a result, most of that waste ends up being repurposed as backfill on new projects, or ground cover \u2014 if it’s reused at all. Today, construction and demolition waste make up more than a third of all the European Union’s trash.<\/p>\n

That focus on new materials<\/a> comes with a major environmental cost: In the EU alone, the building sector<\/a> consumes around 50% of all extracted material, and the associated greenhouse gas emissions are estimated to be between 5% and 12% of total national emissions.<\/p>\n

“Reuse matters not only because it diverts waste, but because it can avoid the emissions associated with producing new materials altogether,” said Markopoulou.<\/p>\n

A 2019 report<\/a> by UK-based charity The Ellen MacArthur Foundation pointed out that reusing materials made of steel, aluminium, concrete<\/a> and plastic would reduce demand for new products. This shift to circular economy strategies could help the global building sector decrease emissions up to 40% by 2050.<\/p>\n

Reuse gaining ground, but still niche<\/h2>\n

Ghyoot said that convincing contractors and architects to use secondhand building materials isn’t easy. Any change takes time and can add to building costs, and a consistent supply of identical products isn’t guaranteed when using salvaged components. Material sourced from older buildings can also be degraded, contain toxic elements or be difficult to disassemble.<\/p>\n

“You have to rethink how you design, how you organize the workflow, how you work with builders,” said Ghyoot, who is also a project manager at Rotor. “We do our best to facilitate that. But it remains a bit of a niche practice overall in the construction industry.”<\/p>\n

\n

Sustainable building with concrete waste<\/h2>\n

In the early days, Rotor DC did all the work salvaging building materials and preparing them for reuse. But that changed when they set up a system to buy back reclaimed building elements \u2014 from private individuals and, especially, general contractors and demolition teams.<\/p>\n

“What we found out is that it was not a matter of skill from their side \u2014 they usually know how to do that properly,” said Ghyoot. “But if you bring a bit of money into the mix, then they are ready to [put in] the effort because there is something in it for them.”<\/p>\n

AI, digital tools can support material recovery<\/h2>\n

Markopoulou and her team are also looking into how digital tools and artificial intelligence<\/a> could be used to boost the recovery of valuable reusable components like solid timber, stone, steel and brick from demolition projects.<\/p>\n

“Cities are enormous material reservoirs,” she explained. “The idea is to use Google Street View<\/a>, aerial images, scans, cadastral data and permits to estimate what materials and components are likely present in buildings, when they may become available and in what quantities.” The research has already been tested in cities like Barcelona, New Delhi, Helsinki and Singapore.<\/p>\n

“We cannot yet predict every reusable window or beam, but we can already estimate urban material stocks well enough to plan for reuse at city scale,” she said. “AI can’t tell you everything inside a building, but it can radically improve how we predict urban material stocks before demolition or renovation even starts.”<\/p>\n

Markopoulou said these incentives and digital tools will need to be backed up by policy changes, highlighting how mandatory energy certificates shifted the focus to more sustainable construction methods. Material and building passports, for example, which list detailed information on everything that makes up a structure, can help plan for eventual reuse and transform how we think of buildings.<\/p>\n

“It’s a change of mentality, because buildings were always thought to be permanent,” said Markopoulou. “We need to design taking into consideration where our materials will go after the lifespan of the building is over.”<\/p>\n

Edited by: Tamsin Walker<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

\n

Picking through a crate of reclaimed floor tiles, Micheal Ghyoot pulls out a model with a blue, gray and white art nouveau motif.<\/p>\n

“These are easy to like, because they have this floral pattern,” said Ghyoot, a researcher specializing in architectural\u00a0reuse, holding up the square cement tile once common in many homes built in Belgium in the early 20th century. “And in the ’30s and ’40s, they started producing more modern patterns, and these are super interesting as well.”<\/p>\n

The crate is just one of dozens containing tiles of varying styles, sizes and colors, all waiting to be cleaned and sorted for resale at Rotor DC<\/a>, a Brussels-based cooperative specialized in salvaged building materials.<\/p>\n

\"Workers
Incoming shipments, including these hand-painted tiles recovered from the workshop of Belgian artist Agnes Emery, are sorted and cleaned before being sold for reuse at Rotor DCImage: Martin Kuebler\/DW<\/small><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In a nearby warehouse, tall, solid wood doors complete with original handles are lined up along the wall, next to several large, gold-tinted windows rescued from a mid-20th century office building. On the grass outside, a photographer is arranging bathroom sinks on the wet grass, to photograph for the online store.<\/p>\n

Since opening its store\u00a0in a former office building in late 2016, Rotor DC has been promoting the concept of urban mining<\/a> in Brussels. Material scouters seek out buildings slated for demolition, and experts carefully rescue anything that can be reused elsewhere, from Murano glass light fixtures to solid oak flooring and handmade decorative brickwork.<\/p>\n

It’s not the only such organization in Belgium, and similar stores exist across Europe, North America and elsewhere. But\u00a0the Rotor design practice also provides guidance for projects looking to use reclaimed components, and publishes research on sustainability, circularity and the material economy.<\/p>\n

Construction sector has a huge environmental footprint<\/h2>\n

The reuse of construction materials isn’t a new concept. Medieval builders, for example, used bits of ancient Roman structures to save time and money, and some of those buildings are still standing today \u2014 especially in Rome. But industrialization and modern manufacturing methods, especially in the 20th century, shifted the focus away from reuse.<\/p>\n

\"A
Structures built in Cibyra, in what is now southern Turkey, used elements of Roman buildings in their constructionImage: Rainer Hackenberg\/picture alliance<\/small><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“The whole construction system \u2014 procurement, liability, regulation, scheduling, insurance, standards \u2014 was built around new materials,” said Areti Markopoulou, academic director at the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia. “Direct component reuse in original form \u2014 windows, doors, beams, facade elements, sanitary fixtures, flooring \u2014 is still less widespread than lower-grade recycling or downcycling.”<\/p>\n

Reuse of building components may seem straightforward, but Markopoulou said it comes with an array of challenges: careful deconstruction, storage, certification and matching supply with new projects.<\/p>\n

\n

Urban mining: Reusing old materials for new constructions<\/h2>\n

“We know how to crush buildings very efficiently, but we are still learning how to disassemble them intelligently,” she said.<\/p>\n

As a result, most of that waste ends up being repurposed as backfill on new projects, or ground cover \u2014 if it’s reused at all. Today, construction and demolition waste make up more than a third of all the European Union’s trash.<\/p>\n

That focus on new materials<\/a> comes with a major environmental cost: In the EU alone, the building sector<\/a> consumes around 50% of all extracted material, and the associated greenhouse gas emissions are estimated to be between 5% and 12% of total national emissions.<\/p>\n

“Reuse matters not only because it diverts waste, but because it can avoid the emissions associated with producing new materials altogether,” said Markopoulou.<\/p>\n

A 2019 report<\/a> by UK-based charity The Ellen MacArthur Foundation pointed out that reusing materials made of steel, aluminium, concrete<\/a> and plastic would reduce demand for new products. This shift to circular economy strategies could help the global building sector decrease emissions up to 40% by 2050.<\/p>\n

Reuse gaining ground, but still niche<\/h2>\n

Ghyoot said that convincing contractors and architects to use secondhand building materials isn’t easy. Any change takes time and can add to building costs, and a consistent supply of identical products isn’t guaranteed when using salvaged components. Material sourced from older buildings can also be degraded, contain toxic elements or be difficult to disassemble.<\/p>\n

“You have to rethink how you design, how you organize the workflow, how you work with builders,” said Ghyoot, who is also a project manager at Rotor. “We do our best to facilitate that. But it remains a bit of a niche practice overall in the construction industry.”<\/p>\n

\n

Sustainable building with concrete waste<\/h2>\n

In the early days, Rotor DC did all the work salvaging building materials and preparing them for reuse. But that changed when they set up a system to buy back reclaimed building elements \u2014 from private individuals and, especially, general contractors and demolition teams.<\/p>\n

“What we found out is that it was not a matter of skill from their side \u2014 they usually know how to do that properly,” said Ghyoot. “But if you bring a bit of money into the mix, then they are ready to [put in] the effort because there is something in it for them.”<\/p>\n

AI, digital tools can support material recovery<\/h2>\n

Markopoulou and her team are also looking into how digital tools and artificial intelligence<\/a> could be used to boost the recovery of valuable reusable components like solid timber, stone, steel and brick from demolition projects.<\/p>\n

“Cities are enormous material reservoirs,” she explained. “The idea is to use Google Street View<\/a>, aerial images, scans, cadastral data and permits to estimate what materials and components are likely present in buildings, when they may become available and in what quantities.” The research has already been tested in cities like Barcelona, New Delhi, Helsinki and Singapore.<\/p>\n

“We cannot yet predict every reusable window or beam, but we can already estimate urban material stocks well enough to plan for reuse at city scale,” she said. “AI can’t tell you everything inside a building, but it can radically improve how we predict urban material stocks before demolition or renovation even starts.”<\/p>\n

Markopoulou said these incentives and digital tools will need to be backed up by policy changes, highlighting how mandatory energy certificates shifted the focus to more sustainable construction methods. Material and building passports, for example, which list detailed information on everything that makes up a structure, can help plan for eventual reuse and transform how we think of buildings.<\/p>\n

“It’s a change of mentality, because buildings were always thought to be permanent,” said Markopoulou. “We need to design taking into consideration where our materials will go after the lifespan of the building is over.”<\/p>\n

Edited by: Tamsin Walker<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Picking through a crate of reclaimed floor tiles, Micheal Ghyoot pulls out a model with a blue, gray and white art nouveau motif.<\/p>\n

“These are easy to like, because they have this floral pattern,” said Ghyoot, a researcher specializing in architectural\u00a0reuse, holding up the square cement tile once common in many homes built in Belgium in the early 20th century. “And in the ’30s and ’40s, they started producing more modern patterns, and these are super interesting as well.”<\/p>\n

The crate is just one of dozens containing tiles of varying styles, sizes and colors, all waiting to be cleaned and sorted for resale at Rotor DC<\/a>, a Brussels-based cooperative specialized in salvaged building materials.<\/p>\n

In a nearby warehouse, tall, solid wood doors complete with original handles are lined up along the wall, next to several large, gold-tinted windows rescued from a mid-20th century office building. On the grass outside, a photographer is arranging bathroom sinks on the wet grass, to photograph for the online store.<\/p>\n

Since opening its store\u00a0in a former office building in late 2016, Rotor DC has been promoting the concept of urban mining<\/a> in Brussels. Material scouters seek out buildings slated for demolition, and experts carefully rescue anything that can be reused elsewhere, from Murano glass light fixtures to solid oak flooring and handmade decorative brickwork.<\/p>\n

It’s not the only such organization in Belgium, and similar stores exist across Europe, North America and elsewhere. But\u00a0the Rotor design practice also provides guidance for projects looking to use reclaimed components, and publishes research on sustainability, circularity and the material economy.<\/p>\n

The reuse of construction materials isn’t a new concept. Medieval builders, for example, used bits of ancient Roman structures to save time and money, and some of those buildings are still standing today \u2014 especially in Rome. But industrialization and modern manufacturing methods, especially in the 20th century, shifted the focus away from reuse.<\/p>\n

“The whole construction system \u2014 procurement, liability, regulation, scheduling, insurance, standards \u2014 was built around new materials,” said Areti Markopoulou, academic director at the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia. “Direct component reuse in original form \u2014 windows, doors, beams, facade elements, sanitary fixtures, flooring \u2014 is still less widespread than lower-grade recycling or downcycling.”<\/p>\n

Reuse of building components may seem straightforward, but Markopoulou said it comes with an array of challenges: careful deconstruction, storage, certification and matching supply with new projects.<\/p>\n

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video<\/a><\/p>\n

“We know how to crush buildings very efficiently, but we are still learning how to disassemble them intelligently,” she said.<\/p>\n

As a result, most of that waste ends up being repurposed as backfill on new projects, or ground cover \u2014 if it’s reused at all. Today, construction and demolition waste make up more than a third of all the European Union’s trash.<\/p>\n

That focus on new materials<\/a> comes with a major environmental cost: In the EU alone, the building sector<\/a> consumes around 50% of all extracted material, and the associated greenhouse gas emissions are estimated to be between 5% and 12% of total national emissions.<\/p>\n

“Reuse matters not only because it diverts waste, but because it can avoid the emissions associated with producing new materials altogether,” said Markopoulou.<\/p>\n

A 2019 report<\/a> by UK-based charity The Ellen MacArthur Foundation pointed out that reusing materials made of steel, aluminium, concrete<\/a> and plastic would reduce demand for new products. This shift to circular economy strategies could help the global building sector decrease emissions up to 40% by 2050.<\/p>\n

Ghyoot said that convincing contractors and architects to use secondhand building materials isn’t easy. Any change takes time and can add to building costs, and a consistent supply of identical products isn’t guaranteed when using salvaged components. Material sourced from older buildings can also be degraded, contain toxic elements or be difficult to disassemble.<\/p>\n

“You have to rethink how you design, how you organize the workflow, how you work with builders,” said Ghyoot, who is also a project manager at Rotor. “We do our best to facilitate that. But it remains a bit of a niche practice overall in the construction industry.”<\/p>\n

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video<\/a><\/p>\n

In the early days, Rotor DC did all the work salvaging building materials and preparing them for reuse. But that changed when they set up a system to buy back reclaimed building elements \u2014 from private individuals and, especially, general contractors and demolition teams.<\/p>\n

“What we found out is that it was not a matter of skill from their side \u2014 they usually know how to do that properly,” said Ghyoot. “But if you bring a bit of money into the mix, then they are ready to [put in] the effort because there is something in it for them.”<\/p>\n

Markopoulou and her team are also looking into how digital tools and artificial intelligence<\/a> could be used to boost the recovery of valuable reusable components like solid timber, stone, steel and brick from demolition projects.<\/p>\n

“Cities are enormous material reservoirs,” she explained. “The idea is to use Google Street View<\/a>, aerial images, scans, cadastral data and permits to estimate what materials and components are likely present in buildings, when they may become available and in what quantities.” The research has already been tested in cities like Barcelona, New Delhi, Helsinki and Singapore.<\/p>\n

“We cannot yet predict every reusable window or beam, but we can already estimate urban material stocks well enough to plan for reuse at city scale,” she said. “AI can’t tell you everything inside a building, but it can radically improve how we predict urban material stocks before demolition or renovation even starts.”<\/p>\n

Markopoulou said these incentives and digital tools will need to be backed up by policy changes, highlighting how mandatory energy certificates shifted the focus to more sustainable construction methods. Material and building passports, for example, which list detailed information on everything that makes up a structure, can help plan for eventual reuse and transform how we think of buildings.<\/p>\n

“It’s a change of mentality, because buildings were always thought to be permanent,” said Markopoulou. “We need to design taking into consideration where our materials will go after the lifespan of the building is over.”<\/p>\n

Edited by: Tamsin Walker<\/em><\/p>\n

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[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/static.dw.com\/image\/76414946_6.jpg”] https:\/\/p.dw.com\/p\/5Acwj Salvaged material at Rotor DC in Brussels includes doors, floor tiles, bathroom fixtures and lightsImage: Martin Kuebler\/DW Picking through a crate of reclaimed floor tiles, Micheal Ghyoot pulls out a model with a blue, gray and white art nouveau motif. “These are easy to like, because they have this floral pattern,” […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,74],"class_list":["post-1833101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-dw-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1833101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1833101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1833101\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1833101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1833101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1833101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}