Towards Circular Masonry: A Scoping Review on Enabling Brick Reuse

Bricks are one of the most popular residential building materials and can be considered environmentally beneficial due to their potential role in the circular economy. However, despite widespread use and long technical service life, very few bricks are reused in their original, highest-value, lowest carbon form. Instead, at the end of life for a masonry building, most bricks are downcycled to aggregate or sent to landfill as waste. Demolished bricks are typically not reused in their whole form because the cement mortar bonded to the bricks during construction is difficult to remove. An alternative mortar could unlock the reuse of whole bricks at their highest value, extend their usable life, reduce reliance on new materials and reduce greenhouse gas emissions of construction. This scoping review sought academic research into mortars that are easy to remove from brickwork to allow for reuse of whole bricks. No papers were found that exactly matched our research question, highlighting the novel approach of this topic.