The potential of hook-and-loop fasteners in the building industry: towards a circular economy

Sustainability of the building sector is an urgent matter, as this sector is globally responsible for about 36% of final energy consumption and about 39% of energy-related CO2 emissions, as well as for about 40% of resource consumption. One approach to reducing these figures is to design buildings that are adaptable to different uses and therefore part of a circular economy. One key aspect of sustainability in buildings is hence the appropriate design of the interfaces, differentiating between durable and non-durable components as well as allowing the separation and reuse of the resources embedded in heterogeneous building components. The requirements for these interfaces are hence separable joints, maintenance friendliness, accessibility and standardization. Hook-and-loop fasteners are currently used in the field of textiles, tools, automotive engineering, aircraft construction, rail vehicles, trade show construction, packaging as well as in fire protection and aerospace. Although still rare in the construction industry, hook-and-loop fasteners can actually meet the requirements named above better than conventional construction joint techniques. In order to encourage a broader application of hook-and loop fasteners, this paper shows the current state of the art and the potentials of their construction-related uses by analysing research projects, patents and the first licensed building products. This includes not only applications for joints components that are easy to dismantle, but also the production of hook-and-loop components made of concrete, as well as the combination with sensor technologies and digitalisation in the context of considering our cities as valuable sources for materials and components.