About
On 20 May 2021, the National Office of Building Technology and Administration launched Guidance for the Resale of Used Building Materials.
The purpose of the Guidance is to clarify the requirements and rules applicable to the resale of used building materials. Earlier it was uncertainty with regard to, inter alia, the application of the documentation requirements under the EU Construction Products Regulation. By clarifying the requirements, the Guidance will seek to prevent uncertainty from creating unnecessary obstacles to building materials reuse. An important change in the Construction Products Regulations was decided on 19 May 2022. It was decided that building materials which (i) are removed from å building, (ii) are to be reused in a building, and (iii) to which no significant changes have been made, are exempt from the documentation rules in chapter III regarding building materials that are not CE marked. With this change the responsibility for ensuring that the materials meet technical requirements was shifted to the person who is to use the building materials for reuse, rather than holding the person that sells or gives way the product responsible. This change came into force on 1 July 2022.The objective is for the Guidance to make more providers opt for reselling of used construction products, and thereby to ensure that the construction of sustainable buildings is accelerated in coming years. The goal is to boost the transition from a linear to a circular economy.
Who does it impact?
Industries, including the building and construction industry, through clarification of the rules on, and requirements applicable to, building materials reuse.
Status: Launched
The Guidance was launched on 20 May 2021.
Thommessen's comments
Norway aims to be at the forefront in developing a circular economy. To achieve that, it is necessary to restructure the property sector to focus more on building materials reuse and the refurbishment of existing buildings, rather than on new materials production and the construction of new buildings.
The production and transport of new building materials is the main source of greenhouse gas emissions in the Norwegian construction and property sector. Building materials reuse is therefore in various contexts considered one of the most important and effective measures for cutting property sector greenhouse gas emissions.
We are observing that the market is becoming increasingly focused on sustainability, and that many property industry players are seeking to contribute to more circular building processes. However, the documentation requirements under the Construction Products Regulations has earlier been considered an impediment to the efficient resale of used construction products. In order to facilitate for more and easier reuse of building materials, did the Ministry on 19 May 2022 decide that the documentation rules shall not apply for building materials subject to reuse that are not CE marked. This amendment came into force in 1 July 2022.
Effective planning for building materials reuse in the construction of new buildings, as well as in the refurbishment, restoration or conversion of existing buildings, is a key tenet of the transition to a more circular property sector. An important aspect of the refurbishment and demolition of existing buildings will, in the transition to a circular economy, be to determine which construction products can be reused, in order to enable these to be brought back into the economy through sales in a market for used construction products. The importance of re-use was confirmed on 1 July 2022, when the amendments to TEK17 also came into force, where an important change is that new buildings shall be designed and built for later dismantling. The Guidance is intended as a tool for clarifying the documentation requirements for anyone planning to resell used construction products.