Research problem:
The growth in construction is expected to significantly increase material consumption in coming years. Embracing Circular Economy (CE) principles offers a pathway to address this urgency. However, the volume homebuilding sector in Australia is not well understood in its transition to CE, yet housing produced this way significantly contributes to material consumption and GHG emissions. Uptake of CE practices is constrained by practical hurdles. Notably, reuse, considered the best waste-prevention and efficient resource-use strategy in CE discourse, is typically more complex than using virgin materials. Housebuilding sustainability efforts emphasise landfill diversion, recycling, and waste sorting, with little focus on reuse and repurposing. Additionally, digital procurement tools generally overlook opportunities for reuse.
Research aim and questions:
Therefor, this PhD investigate the challenge of incorporating reuse practices into existing volume homebuilding e-procurement systems and explores missing relational dimensions between formal knowledge (e.g., building codes, regulations) and experiential insights that could improve decision-making for integrating reuse within the volume homebuilding industry.
Methods, Findings, and Contribution:
Guided by Actor-Network Theory (ANT), the study uses qualitative methods, including 33 semi-structured interviews with built-environment practitioners and sustainability experts connected to the volume homebuilding sector. Findings highlight the role of more-than-human agencies (material, temporal, spatial, and emotional) in shaping practices. They also reveal that reuse is common on construction sites but mainly informal and hidden. Digital platforms could surface surplus materials and reduce waste, but must adapt to embodied site practices, relations of trust, and procurement logics to gain traction. This PhD contributes to discourse on sustainable and inclusive housing by showing how material reuse can reform housing delivery systems and support more resilient, affordable housing in response to ongoing social and environmental challenges.