URRU – Recursos Urbans
Barcelona, Spain

Estetica del Riuso: URRU - Recursos Urbans

URRU – Recursos Urbans was founded in Barcelona three years ago by a multidisciplinary group. We came together around a shared concern: buildings undergoing renovation or demolition contain large quantities of materials, yet the systems needed to identify, recover and return them to use are largely absent. Our different backgrounds are fundamental to the project, bringing together architectural and design practice with expertise in construction and demolition waste management, material recovery and environmental policy. This allows us to work across the whole process, from pre-demolition audits and reuse strategies to selective deconstruction, logistics, preparation, storage and reintegration into new projects. URRU emerged as an intermediary, connecting buildings, materials, designers, contractors, public bodies and new users to make reuse possible. More info about the public programme in Rome, HERE

 

Rethinking demolition

The fundamental shift is to intervene before materials become waste. Current systems are largely organised around managing construction and demolition waste once produced, with recycling considered a successful outcome. Reuse requires reversing this logic. Before demolition, buildings should be understood as stocks of resources. A pre-demolition audit can identify what should be retained in situ, what can be carefully dismantled for reuse elsewhere, and only afterwards what genuinely needs to enter waste channels. 

This also requires changing the economics of demolition: disposal remains comparatively cheap, while careful dismantling, testing and reuse require planning and labour. Regulation should prioritise prevention and reuse over recycling, discourage the disposal of recoverable materials, and provide clearer legal pathways for recovered construction products. Ultimately, the question should shift from ‘What can we recover from this demolition?’ to ‘What actually needs to be demolished?’

 

The reuse process

Our work normally begins with a pre-demolition or pre-renovation audit. We survey the building and identify elements with reuse potential, documenting quantities, dimensions, conditions, technical characteristics, environmental impact and possible reuse pathways. Where necessary, this can be complemented by testing and technical verification. From this inventory we develop a reuse strategy: prioritising retention in situ, then direct reuse within the project, and finally reuse elsewhere. We coordinate selective dismantling, preparation, transport, storage, commercialisation or donation, as well as connections with future projects.

This requires starting significantly earlier than conventional waste management. The client and design team need to integrate reuse into the programme and decision-making process; contractors and trades need time and appropriate methods for careful dismantling; our role is largely to coordinate these actors.

Costs therefore shift: less expenditure on new materials and disposal can mean more investment in local labour, logistics and skilled transformation.

 

Opportunities 

We see enormous potential, particularly in Barcelona and Catalonia, where a dense building stock generates a continuous flow of high-quality materials through renovation and demolition. The benefits are not only environmental but economic and social: reuse can support local craft industries, specialised dismantling, repair, logistics and social-enterprise employment. There is also growing interest from public administrations. Pre-demolition audits are beginning to feature in public procurement processes and sustainability requirements, while architects and clients are becoming more receptive to designing with available materials. The challenge now is to connect these initiatives into a stable ecosystem capable of matching material supply with demand.

 

New skills for material reuse

Some of these “new” skills revive knowledge that existed before construction became so linear. We need professionals able to assess buildings as material stocks, carry out reuse audits, characterise recovered products, plan selective deconstruction, manage logistics and traceability, and connect materials with future design requirements.

We also need tradespeople skilled in careful dismantling, repair and adaptation rather than installation and demolition. At present these competencies are fragmented across architecture, engineering, waste management and traditional trades, while specialised training in Spain remains limited. Recognised roles in auditing, deconstruction and material brokerage will be essential for scaling reuse.

 

Overcoming the barriers to reuse

The main barrier is that the current system makes demolition and disposal easier than reuse. Disposal costs remain relatively low, project programmes rarely allow sufficient time for auditing and selective dismantling, and recovered products still face uncertainty concerning certification, liability and regulatory compliance. There is also a coordination problem: supply and demand occur at different times, so reuse requires inventories, storage, logistics and marketplaces capable of connecting projects. Designers also need access to information early enough for available materials to influence the project.

The most effective changes would therefore combine mandatory pre-demolition audits, stronger economic disincentives for disposing of reusable materials, clearer technical and legal frameworks for second-hand construction products, and reuse requirements in public procurement. Culturally, we also need to stop seeing recovered material as an inferior substitute. Existing European projects already demonstrate that reuse can produce architecture of exceptional quality, both technically and architecturally.

1 La ciutat recurs 4 5 ➡️ La ciutat recurs. Ph. Bernat Compte Fernande2 Edifici Rellotge 4 5 ➡️ Edifici Rellotge. Ph. Recursos Urbans 4 Fabrica de Cartro 4 5.JPG ➡️ Fabrica de Cartro. Ph. Recursos Urbans5 Carrer Mountaner 4 5 ➡️ Carrer Mountaner. Ph. Recursos Urbans6 Audits 4 5 ➡️ Audits. Ph. Recursos Urbans7 Biciclot 4 5 ➡️ Biciclot. Ph. Recursos Urbans

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