With the upcoming March software release, we will be updating the default Construction Waste Factors and Recycled Content for a number of materials to match those defined in the new RICS WLCA PS 2nd Ed. This is to ensure that the assumptions used for these factors are based on reliable sources and remain relevant to current construction practices.
How will your existing projects be affected
Note that the update will affect all existing projects using the eTool Default LCI Group (BRE IMPACT project won’t be affected) in the following way:
-
Existing projects that are still in-progress will only be affected when you add new standalone material elements to your Design. The following factors for the new inputs will vary from your existing Design factors therefore you will need to manually adjust these to ensure consistency as per best practices:
-
default construction waste factors
-
default recycled content
-
default lost/damaged in transport
-
Updating the factors in your existing Design is not compulsory however it is best practice for your LCA to keep your assumptions within the LCA consistent. You can choose between aligning your LCA with the new assumptions or the old assumptions.
How will eTool’s public templates be affected
Note: the process of updating the public templates will only be completed within the week following the release. We will notify users when this has been completed.
The default Construction Waste, Recycled Content and Lost/Damaged in Transport factors for all public templates (users’ custom templates won’t be affected) will be updated to match the new assumptions. This means that for existing eTool Default projects, the default factors for any new public templates added to your project after the update will no longer match with the factors in the existing template added to your Design. Therefore, once the template update process has been completed, users will need to manually update the assumptions in your templates accordingly should you need to add any new public templates/materials to your existing Design to ensure that your assumptions remain consistent throughout your LCA.
Where these factors have been left as the material’s default, we will be updating all our public templates to align with the new RICS assumptions.
Example 1: If a public concrete template created prior to the release has left the construction waste factors in the original default assumption (10%), we will be updating this template to the new RICS default (5%).
Example 2: A public structural steel beam template created prior to the release has changed the recycled content from the default 40.33% to 50%. We will not change this factor to match the new RICS default (13%).
How will your custom templates be affected
All custom templates (assigned to your organisation or private) that were created prior to the update won’t be affected even if you left these factors at material defaults. This is to ensure that we do not overwrite your work. If you wish to update your custom templates to the new assumptions, you will need to update them manually.
Below lists the changes between the original assumptions and the new RICS 2E assumptions for your reference.
Default Assumptions
Construction Waste Factors
| Materials | RICS 2E Assumptions | Original Assumption | eTool Materials Affected |
| Concrete in-situ | 5% | 10% | All 524 in-situ concrete materials including FA, BFS & SCM blends |
| Concrete precast (floor, beams and frames | 1% | 10% | Concrete | Prefabricated Components | Precast Concrete Panels |
| Concrete (sprayed) | 10% | N/A | No material differentiation, users will need to manually update the chosen material |
| Steel reinforcement | 5% | 5% | No change |
| Steel frame (beams, columns, braces) | 1% | 5% | All 3 galvanised structural, hot rolled and hot extruded steel materials |
| Concrete blocks (lightweight AAC) | 10% | 5% | Bricks, Blocks and Pavers | Light Weight Blocks | Aerated Autoclaved Concrete Blocks |
| Concrete blocks (dense/medium density) | 5% | 5% | No change |
| Brickwork (clay) | 6% | 5% | Bricks, Blocks and Pavers | Clay Bricks and Pavers | Unspecified & Recycled |
| Stone (cladding) | 5% | N/A | No material differentiation, users will need to manually update the chosen material |
| Stone (landscaping) | 10% | 15% | All 6 rock & stone materials |
| Mortar and render (internal and external) | 4% | 10% | All 3 mortar & render cementitious binder materials |
| Screed | 8% | N/A | No material differentiation, users will need to manually update the chosen material |
| Floor finish (tile) | 6% | 15% | Ceramics | Tiles Ceramic | Tiles |
| Floor finish (carpet) | 6% | 20% | All 6 nylon/wool carpet materials (not including underlays) |
| Timber frames (beams, columns, joists, braces) | 2% | 15% | All 8 unspecified supply and sustainably sourced glue laminated and CLT materials |
| Timber floors (boards) | 10% | N/A | No material differentiation, users will need to manually update the chosen material |
| Timber formwork | 10% (in addition to end-of-life usage rates, see section 4.11.1) | N/A | No material differentiation, users will need to manually update the chosen material |
| Aluminium sheet | 1% | 1% | No change |
| Aluminium extruded profiles/frames | 1% | 1% | No change |
| Plasterboard | 4% | 15% | All 6 virgin and recycled plasterboard materials |
| Insulation | 7% | varies (2%, 10%, 15%) | All 56 mineral, glass fibre, plastic, wool, rigid foam/board insulation materials |
| Aggregate | 10% | 15% | All 7 aggregate materials |
| Glass | 1% | 5% | Glazing | Glass and Films | Flat Glass |
| Coatings (paint, intumescent coatings) | 6% | 15% | All 6 paint and stain materials |
| Sprayed cementitious fire protection to steel | 10% | N/A | No material differentiation, users will need to manually update the chosen material |
| Asphalt and Bitumen | 6% | 10% | All 28 asphalt & bitumen materials |
| Roof cladding | 5% | 7.5% | All 3 concrete, slate and clay roofing tile materials |
Recycled Content
| Materials | RICS 2E Assumptions | Original Assumption | eTool Materials Affected |
| Structural steel sections – rolled sections | blended average 47% (60% BOF (13% recycled content), 40% EAF (97% recycled content)) | 40.33% | All 2 hot rolled and hot extruded steel materials |
| Structural steel sections – plate and closed sections | 13% (100% BOF) | 40.33% | Ferrous Metals | Steel | Galvanised Structural | Unspecified |
| Reinforcement bar | 96% | 95% | Ferrous Metals | Steel | Reinforcement bar | Unspecified |
| Aluminium Sheet & Extruded profiles | 31% | 35.33% | All 4 sheet/foil and extruded aluminium materials |
Lost or Damaged in Transport Factors
Originally we assumed worse case assumption of 0.5% for all materials are lost or damaged during transport. However in lieu of available guidance from international standards, we’ve decided to change the default to zero.
However if you would like to account for this yourself, we suggest the following guide:
- For materials with <5% construction waste = approx 10% of the construction waste for the lost/damaged in transport factors (i.e. 0.1% for steel frame, 0.5% for in-situ concrete)
- For materials with >5% construction waste = a flat rate of 0.5% should be reasonable
| RICS 2E Assumptions | Original Assumption | eTool Materials Affected |
| None specified, assumed zero by default | 0.5% | All materials |
