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Materials 53
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BENEFITS, ChALLENGES, AND OUTLOOk

FOR TIMBER–CONCRETE COMPOSITE

FLOORS

It is important to advocate for Design for deconstruction (DfD) in timber–concrete composite (TCC)
foors as it represents an important contribution toward circular economy design and creates
a more sustainable built environment. This paper proposes directions for future developments
and contributes to the understanding and promotion of DfD in TCC foors with an emphasis on
deconstructable connectors that can enable material recovery and reuse as the preferred end-of-life
scenario. By Mohammad Derikvand and Gerhard Fink, Aalto University

uildings have a signifcant environmental impact and
consume a large amount of raw materials. In order Shutterstock
Bto reduce their environmental impact, the design
for deconstruction (DfD) has recently received more attention.

DfD considers the end-of-life scenario of buildings at
the (early) design stage so that they can be fully or partially
deconstructed without unproportional effort and material loss.
This allows for the elements or materials to be reused
in new applications or to be further processed. However,
especially for regular hybrid structures, deconstruction is Despite the structural advantages of regular TCC foors,
often challenging as the individual materials are typically their end-of-life situation is typically not considered at the

permanently connected. Therefore, this paper focuses on the design stage.
implementation of DfD in one specifc application in a hybrid As a composite system that contains a combination of
structural system: timber–concrete composite (TCC) foors. materials with different life-cycle scenarios, TCC foors can
TCC foors are a type of structure that takes advantage lead to signifcant waste generation if the employed materials
of the superior properties of both timber and concrete. TCC cannot be effectively separated.
foors require less concrete and typically less reinforcement Therefore, it would be benefcial to implement DfD practices
compared to traditional concrete foors, which reduces the in the design to facilitate the full potential of these materials at
carbon footprint of the structure. the end of the building’s life, including possible reuse scenarios.
Furthermore, TCC foors are characterised by a lower In the context of this paper, DfD is defned as a design

mass than concrete foors. Compared to timber foors, they method that can allow for building components to be easily
offer higher mechanical properties, better fre performance, dismantled to aid in the recovery of materials for reuse
increased thermal mass, improved vibration properties, and (preferably), remanufacturing, and recycling.
better acoustic separation. The benefts of DfD in timber structures have been generally
With such characteristics, TCC systems offer a solution discussed in the past literature. Case studies on the subject
to reduce challenges related to the serviceability limit state can also be found in some research works. In terms of TCC
design of timber buildings and long-span timber foors. foors, a potential beneft of DfD is that it can help reduce