Permasteelisa Group has pledged to advance circularity in the façade industry to reduce construction carbon emissions and redefine how the sector approaches end-of-service life. Currently, thousands of façades face replacement due to inaccurate service life estimates or single-component failures, even though core materials like aluminium can last over 60 years.

Recently Permasteelisa Group partnered with TU Delft to research seven “R-strategies” (including reuse, refurbishment, and remanufacturing) for existing façades. Case studies, including 1 Triton Square in London and projects in Germany and the Netherlands, prove that reusing façades dramatically reduces embodied carbon while meeting modern performance standards.

Despite 70% of the market showing interest in façade reuse, clients face complex decisions around issues including service life, warranty, cost, site logistics and health and safety. Permasteelisa Group addresses this by providing certified performance declarations and new warranties for both on-site refurbishments and factory-monitored production. 

We are applying circular principles to major projects, such as the major Citi Tower retrofit in London. Moving forward, Permasteelisa Group is dedicated to innovating throughout the entire product lifecycle, and sharing best practice around façade refurbishment, façade care, and circularity in façades through its own channels, site tours, and industry events.

Commit

Permasteelisa Group has signed the pledge to embrace circular practices of re-use, remanufacturing and recycling in façades. We view circularity in the façade industry as key to cutting carbon in construction and believe a rethink is needed in the industry approach to end-of-service life.

Plan

Early engagement, even before the project award, enables us to support architects and clients with feasibility studies, cost planning and technical advice. This can include early sustainability studies to shape the energy efficiency of the final concept.

When evaluating a potentially redundant façade, we ask the questions:

Can it be upgraded in situ?
Is partial or full replacement necessary?
Could the existing façade be reused or remanufactured for another building?
Is it possible to meet energy performance targets without starting from scratch?

Within our FaçadeCare department, we have gained the knowledge and skills to assess the quality of façades on site, and to to assess and understand the true service life of materials in the design process. 

This allows us to evaluate the potential R-strategies and find the most sustainable and cost-effective solutions, considering a range of factors such as carbon savings, aesthetics, service life, warranty, cost, site logistics, transport, health and safety, and timelines.

Partner

To help navigate the technical challenge when it comes to existing façades, we recently commissioned specialist research in partnership with the Dutch Technical University, TU Delft. The aim was to explore how the façade industry could embed circular principles and minimise carbon emissions in refurbishment projects.

Our research focused on a typical 25-year-old aluminium and double-glass unitised façade and identified seven ‘R-strategies’ designed to help move from a linear model to a more circular one. 
We see many good initiatives in our supply chain when it comes to recycling aluminium and glass, for example. As a façade contractor, we concentrated on the strategies that will enable us to create the most impact, specifically the reuse, refurbishment and remanufacture of entire façade panels, rather than individual components. The study drew on successful examples from across the façade sector and other industries.

Our research demonstrated that, in many cases, refurbishing or remanufacturing a façade results in significantly lower carbon emissions than producing a new one from scratch (avoided embodied carbon) and in many cases, it is possible to upgrade the performance of a façade to current standards through remanufacturing.

The findings are clear; main components such as aluminium frames, steel sheets, laminated glass and insulation can last 60 years or more, and removing façades after 25 years is a missed opportunity to embrace circular principles.

Act

Our research suggests that over 70% of the market would consider façade reuse. However, there is also a clear need to demonstrate proven, improved performances, sufficient service life, and warranty.

As the leading international façade specialist, we are able to provide this reassurance – in the form of declared performances and a new warranty – through our quality monitored production process. Similarly, for on-site refurbishments we provide a warranty for the new materials and work executed. This helps to incorporate circularity with inbuilt certainty for the client.

We are also dedicated to carrying out exemplar industry projects that demonstrate a circular economy approach. At 1 Triton Square, we removed the original double-skinned curtain wall system and treated it at a temporary facility in Essex, where panels were inspected, cleaned, and updated with new gaskets for reinstallation. In total, we refurbished 3,500m² of the building’s original 1990s unitised façade panels.

And as we take part in the refurbishment of the Citi Tower (25 Canada Square) in Canary Wharf, one of the largest commercial office retrofit projects in Europe, we are pleased to be using this project to feed into our ongoing R&D work around circularity in tall buildings – investigating the remaining service life of components like PPC finishes, galvanized steel, and glass, and the potential to remanufacture existing façades to meet modern thermal standards.

At Koningskade 4 in The Hague, we carried out a high-impact, curtain wall refurbishment strategy, upgrading the envelope from a single float glass to a modern, double-skin laminated façade. As well as delivering a sustainable transformation without the need for rebuilding, we organised the strategic reuse of existing façade materials in other projects, embodying circular economy principles. 

A current focus of our innovation work is in improving the circularity of our product, from concept design through to deconstruction

Share

We will continue to share our knowledge and expertise around façade refurbishment, façade care, and circularity in façades with new and existing partners, and the wider industry, through site tours and factory visits, and through industry events, online forums, expert panels and thought leadership – sharing our learnings and best practice at every opportunity.

Image credit @ Andrew Howard