A Tool for Informed Choices of Post-production Protocols: The Pre-deconstruction Audit Model

Developed as part of the Project of Significant National Interest “ST3P+L. Buildings and Circular Economy. Steel from production to post-production. Law and responsibility issues” (Next Generation EU), the pre-deconstruction audit model is an operational tool for the reusability assessment of steel components from decommissioned buildings. The tool supports technical decisions, guiding them towards the protocols defined by the standard CEN/TS 1090–201:2024 for structural reuse or towards specific procedures suitable for the Italian context for non-structural reuse. Through progressive phases, the proposed tool introduces the building and organizes its structural components into a schedule describing their production, geometric, and relational characteristics. It proceeds with the verification of the original documentation, which reduces destructive testing and increases the reliability and accuracy of preliminary assessments. Finally, it allows data to be exported to BIM environments, allowing for integration with the Digital Product Passport, ensuring traceability throughout the entire life cycle. Validation on a real case study confirms its effectiveness as a tool to support the reusability assessment of components and highlights its potential to promote building management strategies aimed at optimizing resources and costs, encouraging the spread of steel reuse as a competitive practice in the construction sector.