Demountable connections of reinforced concrete structures: Review and future developments

In the current practice, at the end of life of a reinforced concrete structure, it is destructively demolished and the demolition waste is landfilled or recycled. This approach is clearly wasteful of energy, creating serious environmental pollution and at high cost. However, design for demountability/deconstruction (DID) of reinforced concrete structures would facilitate the future reuse of structural elements at the end of their life, potentially achieving a significant reduction in embodied energy of structures as well as giving the clients the benefit of retaining the value of their assets.