Demolition Management for Sustainability: Framework and Case Study

Demolition is recognised as a strategic construction process enabling the transition between an asset and a building cycle. Rather than removing a structure, it requires a design and management approach that preserves safety, material quality, traceability, and environmental performance. This paper develops a demolition-management framework linking pre-demolition assessment, method selection, hazardous-material control, waste classification, logistics, safety measures, environmental mitigation, and documentation-based traceability. The framework is applied to the partial demolition of a precast reinforced-concrete storage building within an industrial compound in Treviso, Italy. The project involved time constraints, limited working space, adjacent structures, and asbestos–cement components. The case study illustrates a phased process including asbestos abatement, perimeter slab cutting, crane-assisted dismantling, controlled top-down mechanical demolition, dust suppression, and coordinated temporary storage and waste transport documentation. Results show that safety and circular-economy objectives are mutually reinforcing when demolition is planned as an integrated and auditable end-of-life construction-management process, focused on removing, separating, classifying, and routing materials through pathways. In constrained industrial settings, sequencing, staging areas, specialised subcontracting, and documentation readiness are decisive for reducing interference, maintaining operational continuity, and supporting material recovery. The study proposes a workflow, while acknowledging the limitations of a single-case design and the absence of multi-project quantitative data.