4 steps to GTIN – Traceability and circularity in the construction industry
Traceability is one of the prerequisites for a transition to circular business models in the construction industry, where raw materials and construction products can be reused, remanufactured, or recycled to create a more sustainable and resource-efficient construction process for the built environment and building objects.
For a built environment, such as a multi-story apartment building, there is a lot of information and data that need to be transparent and communicated between actors throughout the building’s lifecycle. This transparency is necessary to make safe and sustainable decisions during the design, construction, and use stages. Additionally, after the lifecycle, materials, products, and building objects need to be evaluated and managed from a circular perspective.
The very large volume of information and the long lifecycle of the built environment require the digitalization of information, including its identification, performance, validation, sharing, and storage.
In 2018, a joint decision was made by actors within the Swedish construction industry to use the GS1 product identification standard GTIN (Global Trade Item Number) as a common standard. The purpose is to apply a global and traceable identification that is readable by both humans and machines, as well as by IT applications and systems.
In 2022, the Trace4Value sub-project “4 steps to GTIN” was conducted as a pre-study to define more efficient and sharable information models and methods to increase sustainability and circularity within the construction industry. By using standards, such as construction product standards (harmonized if possible) for properties and harmonized standards for product data templates, verified data can gradually be collected for each product and building object and connected in digital twins of the built environment.
In March 2023, the pre-study delivered its final report:
In 2023 and 2024, work continued on various projects within the national construction industry to create common and shared digital models and methods to support and increase circularity and sustainability. National legislation, such as climate impact declarations, has also raised the delivery requirements and demand for data.
Also in 2023 and 2024, various European (EU) projects have been conducted and reported. Legislation related to climate impact, sustainability, and circularity goals has been published and is in force during 2024. Examples include the revised Construction Product Regulation (CPR) and the new Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), including the Digital Product Passport (DPP).
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