Work

Material and waste reduction through industrialised building: A systematic and meta-analysis review

Year: 2025

Type: article

Study designs: Systematic Review, Meta-Analysis

Abstract: • Industrialised building significantly reduce construction waste on average. • Industrialised building show negligible impact on material use on average. • Waste and material use savings in buildings vary significantly. • Full life cycle assessments are crucial for accurate results. • Standardised reporting is essential for more robust comparisons . Despite growing interest, the relative advantages of industrialised building (IB) over traditional building (TB) remain unclear in the literature. While some studies suggest that IB offers resource efficiency advantages, others show that it often results in increased material use and waste generation. This study contributes to clarifying this issue through a meta -analysis review, focusing on articles that use data from real projects that report clear scopes and system boundaries. This approach seeks to ensure the reliability and practical relevance of the findings, providing insights into the real-world performance of IB and TB, and the influence that different variables and factors can provide when comparing them. A total of 62 cases were extracted from database queries covering publications from 2008 to 2023. Material use and waste savings were examined across various dimensions, including country, building type, and specific construction products, systems and materials. The results show that, on average, IB methods have a negligible impact on material use (median 0.0%) and a substantial waste reduction potential (median 36.5%). Findings confirm that IB can enable significant waste reduction in various construction materials, particularly in the case of steel, timber and gypsum plastering, thus holding potential to minimise the environmental impacts of the industry. This study further argues the need for standardised reporting procedures in future case studies, including disclosure of IB typologies implemented, consistent use of functional units, and the inclusion of more life cycle stages.

Source: Energy and Buildings

DOI: 10.1016/j.enbuild.2025.116330

Authors: Santiago Muñoz, Victor Bunster, Laura Gutierrez-Bucheli, Duncan Maxwell

Institution: Monash University

Language: English

Topic: BIM and Construction Integration

Subfield: Building and Construction

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDGs: Responsible consumption and production, Sustainable cities and communities, Climate action, Industry, innovation and infrastructure

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $4,260