This note was reviewed and approved for currency of underlying principles in August 2018.
The disassembly of buildings to recover materials and components for future reuse is not widely practiced in the modern construction industry. This note covers a range of themes and offers a set of principles, or guidelines, for design for disassembly that can be applied to a project in order to facilitate and encourage greater rates of reuse and recycling in the future. The note replaces the previous note Design for disassembly by offering more specific guidance on why, when, what and how to design for disassembly. Further to that, it describes a more developed relationship between significant issues surrounding design for disassembly.