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East London practice Orms has unveiled a new initiative for architects to gather information about materials in a building to decide whether they can be reused.

The concept, known as a materials 鈥榩assport鈥�, would allow architects to use their phones to scan QR codes, matrix barcodes, imprinted on materials within buildings to access information about them.

Users will then be able to view all of the recorded data on the scanned material, including product origin, fire ratings, structural information and maintenance information.

The approach is different from an existing EU scheme known as Madaster, which uploads BIM models onto a platform and tags materials contained in the model to create a register.

This can then be used to calculate a value of the materials in a completed building but is less suitable for live projects as any changes to the BIM model would require materials to be retagged.

Orms鈥� approach would use the passport to pull information out of a database which can then feed back into a BIM model, allowing architects to make judgements during a live project on whether materials in a building can be reused.

The information can also be filtered, meaning that people working in different construction disciplines can find relevant information such as design features, structural data and maintenance records.

According to the latest government figures, as much as 62% of the UK鈥檚 waste comes from the construction industry.

Architect Rachel Hoolahan, who has led Orms鈥� research on the project, said the passports would allow much more information about materials in a live project to be stored and accessed than current methods.

鈥淵ou would have lots more information and therefore you could trust the material. A material passport is an identity document, in the same way that a normal passport tells you key information about me and tells you where I鈥檝e been鈥�.

She compared the ability to see information on used materials to selling a used car: 鈥淵ou get a better return on your investment if you have service history for your car, because it gives you confidence in it.鈥�

She added that several ideas about how to manage materials data had been suggested but Orms鈥� approach would be an interactive view: 鈥淭he thing that it鈥檚 reading is the database, so it鈥檚 live, it鈥檚 constantly being updated.鈥�

The research, which was launched last week, was developed as part of the Grosvenor Estate Innovation Project in collaboration with Arup and material reuse specialists Elliott Wood and Heta.