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The reuse of timber building parts, when designing new buildings, has become a topic of increasing discussion as a proposed circular solution in support of sustainable development goals. Designers face the difficulty of identifying and applying different design strategies for reuse due to multiple definitions, which are used interchangeably. The purpose of this study is to propose a taxonomy to define the relationships between various concepts and practices that comprise the relevant strategies for reuse, notably design for disassembly (DfD) and design for adaptability (DfA).

Literature reviews were conducted based on research publications over the previous 12 years and located through the Web of Science and Scopus.

A taxonomy for the design process grounded on two strategies for reuse is presented: DfD and DfA. Based on previous work, the taxonomy aims to build a vocabulary of definitions in DfD and DfA to support other researchers and practitioners working in the field.

The research is limited to the design phase of timber-based buildings. It does not take into account the other phases of the construction process, neither other kind of construction methods.

The application of the taxonomy can facilitate communication between different actors and provide a way for building product manufacturers to demonstrate their reuse credentials, enabling them to produce and promote compliant products and thereby support design for reuse strategies.

This paper could contribute to a closer collaboration of all stakeholders involved in the building process since the very early phases of the conceptual design.

This paper contributes a comprehensive taxonomy to support the deployment of circular reuse strategies and assist designers and other stakeholders from the earliest of phases in the building’s life cycle. The proposed definition framework provided by the taxonomy resolves the longstanding lack of a supporting vocabulary for reuse and can be used as a reference for researchers and practitioners working with the DfD and DfA.

Timber export is an important economic development pillar in Ghana, which has a direct effect on Ghana’s domestic forestry industry development, local communities’ income and sustainable forest management and deforestation. China, as the Ghana’s largest timber export destination, brought significant impacts on Ghana’s timber export. However, there is a lack of quantitative analyses on impact factors of timber trade between the two countries in the past, which this paper sought to do.

The authors first collected Ghana’s timber exports to China from 1997 to 2017, and then based on the literature review and trade theories, the authors set up a least squares estimate (LSE)-based multiple linear regression (MLR) model to analyse the specific impact factors. In addition, multi-collinearity, autocorrelation and heteroscedasticity issues of the impact factors were checked to guarantee the accuracy of the results.

The results showed China timber import volume, Ghana cedi (GHC)/US$ exchange rate, Ghana’s gross domestic product (GDP) and China timber consumption volume in construction sector had positive impacts; Ghana timber production volume and Ghana average timber export price had negative impacts. The results confirmed that China’s timber consumption had a positive linkage with Ghana’s timber export. The article also reviewed possible impacts caused by change in timber trade policies, which proved important but was hardly directly quantified. The authors pointed out the importance of optimizing these impact factors to make sure Ghana’s timber export to China went on the sustainable track.

There is no literature about timber trade and its impact factors between Ghana and China, which used econometric models. This paper provided new perspectives on the impact factors in timber trade between the two countries.

This study examined data from 13 international tall residential timber building case studies to increase our understanding of the emerging global trends.

Data were collected through literature surveys and case studies to examine the architectural, structural and constructional points of view to contribute to knowledge about the increasing high-rise timber constructions globally.

The main findings of this study indicated that: (1) central cores were the most preferred type 10 of core arrangements; (2) frequent use of prismatic forms with rectilinear plans and regular extrusions were identified; (3) the floor-to-floor heights range between 2.81 and 3.30 m with an average of 3 m; (4) the dominance of massive timber use over hybrid construction was observed; (5) the most used structural system was the shear wall system; (6) generally, fire resistance in primary and secondary structural elements exceeded the minimum values specified in the building codes; (7) the reference sound insulation values used for airborne and impact sounds had an average of 50 and 56 dB, respectively.

There is no study in the literature that comprehensively examines the main architectural and structural design considerations of contemporary tall residential timber buildings.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate two current transformation processes in the construction industry: the adoption of a novel material, cross-laminated timber (CLT), and the enhancement of digital transformation. This paper depicts the actors and interaction in the business network that is emerging around CLT construction and, in particular, how digital transformation (that is, the deployment of Construction 4.0 solutions) occurs in this business network.

Digital transformation is a relatively new phenomenon in CLT construction, and the authors, therefore, adopt a qualitative inductive research approach and rely on semi-structured interviews.

The findings of this paper suggest that it is critical for actors to adopt an interorganizational perspective in CLT construction, instead of only focusing on internal operations. An interorganizational perspective supports successful CLT construction, as well as the deployment of Construction 4.0 solutions. This will bring about the benefits of digital transformation in the construction industry.

This paper investigates the network created around CLT construction in Finland but more generally illustrates the change toward Construction 4.0 solutions.

For managers, this paper explicates the importance of networking, instead of focusing on the internal development of the company, when adopting novel solutions emerging from both construction and information technology-related advancements.

Stability and traditions are characteristic of the construction industry. New technical solutions and materials, together with calls for sustainability, have challenged the traditional ways of constructing, and for example, the development of CLT construction has led to an emergence of new business networks. This material-related process and the ongoing digital transformation of business form an interesting context for an empirical-based analysis of changing interaction and networks. This paper gives the first insights into how digital transformation can benefit the evolution of the network.

Construction suffers from “peculiarities” that concern the temporary natures of the construction site, project teams and unique product design. Considering the digital transformation of construction, new solutions are being investigated that can provide consistent data between changing projects. One such source of data manifests in the tracking of logistics activities across the supply chain. Construction logistics is traditionally considered a site management activity focused solely on the “back end” of projects, but an expanded logistics focus can unlock new avenues of improvement. This study aims to understand the requirements and benefits of such a consistent thread of data.

From a research project with one of Australia’s largest contracting companies, this paper details a series of construction tracking tests as an empirical case study in using Bluetooth low energy aware tracking technology to capture data across the manufacture, delivery and assembly of a cross-laminated timber structural prototyping project.

The findings affirm the tracking of expanded logistics data can improve back-end performance in subsequent projects while also demonstrating the opportunity to inform a project’s unique front-end design phase. The case study demonstrates that as the reliability, range and battery life of tracking technologies improve, their incorporation into a broader range of construction activities provides invaluable data for improvement across projects.

As a live case study, this research offers unique insights into the potential of construction tracking to close the data loop from final site assembly back to the early project design phase, thus driving continual improvement from a holistic perspective.

Thermomechanical behavior of intermediate-size beam-to-wall assemblies including Glulam-beams connected to cross-laminated timber (CLT) walls with T-shape steel doweled connections was investigated at ambient temperature (AT) and after and during non-standard fire exposure.

Three AT tests were conducted to evaluate the load-carrying capacity and failure modes of the assembly at room temperature. Two post-fire performance (PFP) tests were performed to study the impact of 30-min (PFP30) and 60-min (PFP60) partial exposure to a non-standard fire on the residual strength of the assemblies. The assemblies were exposed to fire in a custom-designed frame, then cooled and loaded to failure. A fire performance (FP) test was conducted to study the fire resistance (FR) during non-standard fire exposure by simultaneously applying fire and a mechanical load equal to 65% of the AT load carrying capacity.

At AT, embedment failure of the dowels followed by splitting failure at the Glulam-beam and tensile failure of the epoxy between the layers of CLT-walls were the dominant failure modes. In both PFP tests, the plastic bending of the dowels was the only observed failure mode. The residual strength of the assembly was reduced 14% after 30 min and 37% after 60 min of fire exposure. During the FP test, embedment failure of timber in contact with the dowels was the only major failure mode, with the maximum rate of displacement at 51 min into the fire exposure.

This is the first time that the thermomechanical performance of such an assembly with a full-contact connection is presented.

Prefabricated products are continually entering the building construction market; yet, the decision to use prefabricated products in a construction project is based mostly on personal preferences and the evaluation of direct costs. Researchers and practitioners have debated appropriate measurement systems for evaluating the impacts of prefabricated products and for comparing them with conventional on-site construction practices. The more advanced, cost–benefit approach to evaluating prefabricated products often inspires controversy because it may generate inaccurate results when converting non-monetary effects into costs. As prefabrication may affect multiple organisations and product subsystems, the method used to decide on production methods should consider multiple direct and indirect impacts, including nonmonetary ones. Thus, this study aims to develop a multi-criteria method to evaluate both the monetary and non-monetary impacts of prefabrication solutions to facilitate decision-making on whether to use prefabricated products.

Drawing upon a literature review, this research suggests a multi-criteria method that combines the choosing-by-advantage approach with a cost–benefit analysis. The method was presented for validation in focus group discussions and tested in a case involving a prefabricated bathroom.

The analysis indicates that the method helps a project’s stakeholders communicate about the relative merits of prefabrication and conventional construction while facilitating the final decision of whether to use prefabrication.

This research contributes a method of evaluating the monetary and non-monetary impacts of prefabricated products. The research underlines the need to evaluate the diverse benefits and sacrifices that stakeholder face when considering production methods in construction.