Purpose: This paper aims to conduct a qualitative assessment of synergies between information flows of a multifamily product platform used for industrialized housing and materials passports that can promote a circular economy in the construction industry. Design/methodology/approach: Using a single case study method, the research assesses the availability and accessibility of materials passport-relevant information generated by a leading Swedish industrialized housing construction firm. Data is collected using semistructured interviews, document analysis and an extended research visit. Findings: The research findings identify the functional layers of the product platform, map the information flow using a process diagram, assess the availability and accessibility of material passport relevant information by lifecycle stage and actor, and summarize the key points using a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis. Research limitations/implications: The three main implications are: the technical and process platforms used in industrialized construction allow for generating standardized, digital and reusable information; the vertical integration of trades and long-term relationships with suppliers improve transparency and reduce fragmentation in information flows; and the design-build-operate business model strategy incentivizes actors to manage information flows in the use phase. Practical implications: Industrialized construction firms can use this paper as an approach to understand and map their information flows to identify suitable approaches to generate and manage materials passports. Originality/value: The specific characteristics of product platforms and industrialized construction provide a unique opportunity for circular information flow across the building lifecycle, which can support material passport adoption to a degree not often found in the traditional construction industry.

Developing economies need to supply housing and ensure resource efficiency in the process. Industrialised construction, which increases productivity in construction, can be one means to deliver the needed housing. However, the resource efficiency of industrialised construction in developing economies is under-researched. This paper studies factors influencing resource efficiency in industrialised housing products from the perspective of value chain and environmental impact in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Nairobi, Kenya; and Cape Town, South Africa. Specifically, wall systems with varying degrees of industrialised construction implementation are studied. The study uncovers four main insights-first, the choice of materials influences the resource efficiency of industrialised wall systems; however, the current value chain does not promote the adoption of new materials. Second, products used for industrialised wall systems are imported and incur added transportation-related impacts and more. Third, industrialised construction wall systems often use lightweight materials and have the potential for disassembly; however, end users have reservations about such design strategies. Fourth, controlled production of wall systems reduces construction waste and increases the quality of products. Nevertheless, governments are currently promoting labour-intensive construction methods. Based on these insights, the paper concludes with recommendations, levers and action points for stakeholders to promote resource efficiency in industrialised construction adoption.

The use of industrialised construction can help meet the growing housing demand for developing economies in Africa. In order to understand future scenarios for accelerated adoption of industrialised construction, it is necessary to identify the influencing factors. To do so, this paper conducts a formative scenario analysis which is a literature- and expert-based method, focussing on three countries that have high housing demands, i.e. Ethiopia, Kenya, and South Africa. The resulting analysis consists of three parts. The first is the identification of nineteen internal and external influencing factors. These factors range from product performance to policies and regulations. The second is the illustration of the importance of each factor as a function of its relationship with the other factors. The third is the description of three possible scenarios the adoption of industrialised construction may take in the three investigated countries. The findings show that the most important accelerators for the adoption of industrialised construction come from governments’ commitment to invest in future construction and incentivize companies to adopt industrial construction methods and for these companies to produce competitive products. The specific adoption policies to be implemented, however, depend greatly on the specific situation.

Material passports have been proposed to collect, store, and share material information to promote circularity in the construction sector. However, the current recommendations for material passports focus on material information at a building scale with little attention to its implications on a city scale. To address this limitation, this paper provides directions for developing a material passport ontology that could be used to collect, store, share, and retrieve data at multiple scales of abstraction. It describes the requirements for a material passport ontology and provides recommendations for integrating existing ontologies. This paper is relevant to researchers developing information management platforms to enable a circular economy.