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Deconstruction: Salvaging Yesterday's Buildings for Tomorrow's Sustainable Communities

by Kivi Leroux (Materials for the Future Foundation) and Neil Seldman (Institute for Local Self-Reliance)

• Download PDF file of the report (2.5 MB)

Executive Summary - May 1999

Deconstruction is the process of carefully dismantling a building in order to salvage components for reuse and recycling. While traditional demolition is highly mechanized, capital-intensive, and waste generating, deconstruction is labor intensive, low-tech, and environmentally sound. When combined with demolition or used entirely as an alternative, deconstruction transforms a quick and dirty chore into an undertaking that supports community development with environmental, economic, and social benefits, including:

• Reducing pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and the need for landfilling and incineration
  
• Conserving energy and natural resources
  
• Creating job training and employment opportunities, including self-employment and small business development
  
• Providing materials to used building materials stores and value-adding manufacturing enterprises
  
• Retaining the historical significance of buildings.

This report provides communities with the information needed to understand, advocate, and organize for deconstruction locally, regionally, and nationally, emphasizing partnerships with local nonprofit organizations, government agencies, and for-profit practitioners. It explains how communities can use deconstruction to produce locally-based, environmentally-sound, community economic development.

The report highlights two changes in federal policy that create major opportunities for deconstruction: the demolition of public housing under the HOPE VI program and the conversion of closed military bases across the U.S. These opportunities make deconstruction especially relevant for housing authorities, redevelopment agencies, job training and employment agencies, community development corporations, and many others.

Section II of the report provides additional background information on the deconstruction field, summarizes several nonprofit and community-based case studies, reveals common obstacles to deconstruction and potential solutions, and discusses different implementation approaches. Section III describes deconstruction’s companion industries: building materials reuse stores and value-added manufacturing with salvaged materials. Section IV outlines existing local and federal government support for deconstruction, including local policies and practices to encourage deconstruction. Section V concludes with estimated benefits should deconstruction be employed nationwide and recommendations for national policy changes.

The report also includes two appendices. The first, Appendix A, provides contact information for more than 30 individuals who are experts on the various facets of deconstruction. The second, Appendix B, lists more than 25 case studies, reports, and other publications on deconstruction. Organizations wishing to pursue deconstruction should use the resources and contacts in the appendices to learn more about specific methods for assessing buildings, developing project budgets and schedules, training crews, and other necessary tasks.

• Download PDF file of the report (2.5 MB)

Institute for Local Self-Reliance 927 15th St. NW, 4th Floor Washington, DC 20005 Phone: 202-898-1610 Fax: 202-898-1612 E-mail: wastetowealth@ilsr.org Web: http://www.ilsr.org/

Materials for the Future Foundation P.O. Box 29091 San Francisco, CA 94129-0091 Phone: (415) 561-6530 Fax: (415) 561-6474 E-mail: mff@igc.org Web: http://www.materials4future.org/

This report was funded in part by a grant from the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.

Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge Mark Jackson of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and Lisa Geller of the Materials for the Future Foundation for their assistance in researching and drafting this document. Thanks also to Leana Schelvan of the Materials for the Future Foundation for designing the layout for the hard copy version.

This report draws on the experiences of many individuals and organizations and we offer our sincerest thanks to them as well. The authors also wish to thank the following individuals who provided an insightful critique of an earlier draft of the report:

Pavitra Crimmel, Beyond Waste Inc.
Robert Falk, Forest Products Lab, U.S. Department of Agriculture
Peter Hendricks, Complete Building Recycling
Tom Kacandes, Reuse Development Organization
Judy Kincaid, Triangle J Council of Governments
Leslie Kirkland, The Loading Dock
Phil Kreitner, Wood Resource Efficiency Network
Dennis Livingston, Community Resources
Joy MacPherson, Used Building Materials Association
Ann Schneider, Business Environmental Assistance Center, U.C. Santa Cruz
Rhonda Sherman, North Carolina State University
Coy Smith, Materials for the Future Foundation
Robin Snyder, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
William Turley, Construction Materials Recycling Association
Peter Yost, National Association of Home Builders Research Center

Finally, the authors thank the Office of Community Services of the Department of Health and Human Services for its support for deconstruction programs throughout the country.