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Select Projects

• Deconstruction Assessment in Cleveland, Ohio
  Spring 2007
• Susquehanna Deconstruction Pilot Project
  Spring 2006
• Philadelphia Rowhouse Deconstruction Pilot Project, Summer 2003
• Washington, DC, 2002-2003
• Roseburg, Oregon, 2002
• Hartford, CT, 2000-2001

Deconstruction Assessment in Cleveland, Ohio
Spring 2007

The George Gund Foundation of Cleveland funded ILSR to research, conduct site visits, and prepare a report about the current status of deconstruction in Cleveland with recommendations for supporting the industry's growth. ILSR staff, Neil Seldman and Linda Knapp, met with key public and private stakeholders in Cleveland from May 24-26, 2007.

Research findings show that deconstruction is an emerging growth sector of the Cleveland metropolitan area economy. Both for profit enterprises and non-profit organizations are initiating deconstruction and resale/reuse projects and are planning, often in concert, next steps toward expanding this sector. Private companies include deconstruction companies and demolition companies are being introduced to deconstruction through market conditions and government policy. Non-profit organizations involved in this process include Habitat for Humanity, Greater Cleveland Green Building Coalition, Hard Hatted Women, EarthWatch Ohio, and the St Clair/Superior Community Development Corporation.

The City of Cleveland Department of Economic Development has taken decisive steps to assist in this process. Actions include required deconstruction on the Midland Steel Building, located at Madison Avenue and Berea Road on a 21-acre site being prepared for business park development. In addition, as a result of the ILSR meeting, the Department of Economic Development is considering deconstruction of the East 71st Street project, which envisions comprehensive deconstruction as a solution to the problems caused by abandoned houses and the need for affordable new housing development.

The Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority and Cleveland's Office of Sustainability are interested in deconstruction as a sustainable practice that supports workforce development. Also, the Cleveland Metropolitan School District is exploring the application of deconstruction to their programs so that they can divert recoverable materials from the waste stream.

ILSR presented its findings and recommendations to the Cleveland stakeholders and the Gund Foundation in June 2007, and is providing technical support to this effort throughout 2007.

Susquehanna Deconstruction Pilot Project
Spring 2006

ILSR in cooperation with Penn State's Hamer Center for Community Design conducted a second deconstruction pilot project to determine cost-effective methods to remove lumber and other materials from an NTI abandoned house. The US Environmental Protection Agency funded the project and the City of Philadelphia provided the house for deconstruction.

Kevin Brooks Salvage (KBS), a local minority contractor, performed the deconstruction work on the 3224 Susquehanna unit, half of a residential twin building. KBS was selected because the firm provided the lower bid and the more complete bid package.

The project work took place from March 27-April 7, 2006. At the Hamer Center's direction, the KBS crew experimented with the use of a mechanized, panelized approach of removing lumber. The dismantling process involved cutting the roof and floor panels into sections and removing them to an off-site location for processing.

The project diverted bricks, lumber, metal, and architectural features from disposal:

• Most of the bricks were used for on-site backfill.
• Lumber was sold to a reharvester for remilling, in addition to being used by a local furniture maker.
• Metal was sold to local scrap dealers.
• Architectural features were marketed through KBS's architectural salvage business, Found Matter.

The retail value of the recovered materials that have been sold or used directly by KBS is $6,530. The project was successful in demonstrating that deconstruction can be cost-competitive with hand demolition when there are sufficient recoverable materials to offset the high labor costs.

ILSR and KBS believe that the project costs could be lowered in future projects based on the following factors:

• Better dumpster removal and replacement procedures
• Better on-site efficiency utilizing improved practices based on lessons learned from the pilot.
• Improving the economy of scale by removing more than one house at a time.

ILSR presented the findings to representatives from several City of Philadelphia agencies and is exploring with them policy options for encouraging deconstruction and salvage practices in the removal of condemned buildings in the City.

Philadelphia Rowhouse Deconstruction Pilot Project
Summer 2003

ILSR conducted a Phase One deconstruction pilot project in cooperation with the City of Philadelphia Neighborhood Transformation Initiative (NTI) during the summer 2003. NTI is a multi-year strategy for eliminating blight ad revitalizing communities in Philadelphia.

ILSR's Jim Primdahl supervised the two City-chosen demolition contractors in the pilot project that resulted in the deconstruction of two abandoned row houses and a "soft skim" of a third house, a process that did not require any structural changes to the building.

Most of the deconstruction activities occurred from June 24 - July 15, 2003. The deconstruction workers successfully recovered a wide range of materials including panel doors, flooring, molding, fixtures, tiles, cabinets, and more from the three houses. As part of the disassembly phase, the workers removed more than 6,000 board feet equivalent of floor joists, and wall framing from the two houses. They then de-nailed the lumber on-site and assembled it for shipment to market.

ILSR received $2,518 from the sale of a wide range of architectural salvage items and lumber. The retail value of the materials recovered from the two deconstructed houses and a "soft skim" of the third was estimated to be about $8,000.

The Phase One pilot was successful in documenting the value of recoverable materials in the abandoned houses and the existence of markets for these materials. The high project labor costs were the result of several factors including the on-site processing, which was not cost-effective at the prevailing wage paid to workers on the project.

ILSR concluded that the incorporation of deconstruction practices as an economically viable component of the NTI demolition packages would require additional research in determining a cost-effective means to recover marketable lumber and bricks from the NTI houses.

The Sustainable Development Fund provided funding to document labor costs and recovered material value and to do an initial assessment of recovered material markets.

Washington, DC
2002-2003

In 2002, ILSR inaugurated its Washington, DC deconstruction training program at the Stanton Dwellings public housing complex, working closely with the DC Housing Authority and Just U Wait'N See CDC (JUWNS), a community development corporation serving the residents of the Stanton community.

ILSR provided screening and training guidelines to JUWNS to facilitate the selection, interview, testing, and hiring of trainees. Classroom style and hands-on training were begun in January 2002, and by March we had trained and employed 48 former public housing residents. Recovery rates ranged from 50-85% (depending on the condition of the buildings). Many of our trainees have now moved into full-time construction jobs off-site, and ILSR is coordinating with local unions and construction companies to place other trainees in permanent positions once the Stanton project is completed. In addition, some graduates have begun purchasing new homes being built on the Stanton site, translating their training into real investment.

Project Updates: Photographs

Roseburg, Oregon
2002

ILSR helped the Umpqua County Community Development Corporation (UCCDC) prepare a successful application to HHS, providing funds to create 13 new jobs in deconstruction over three years. (Six low-income workers already have been trained and employed at this writing.) Once funds were awarded, we helped train UCCDC staff, primarily in business management and development to facilitate the establishment of a deconstruction service enterprise. ILSR staff worked with UCCDC principal Mickey Beach to draft a bid for the operation's first deconstruction project, and offered technical advice on take-down methods. We also helped draft a business plan for retail sales operation that markets building materials recovered from area deconstruction projects. Both the sales enterprise already is making a profit, as is the service operation, which anticipates receiving two new contracts next month.

Hartford, CT
2000-2001

In 1998, ILSR met with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to explain how programs like HUD's Hope VI (which provides hundreds of millions of dollars annually to demolish buildings) could use deconstruction to renovate public housing in an environmentally-sound manner, while helping HUD meet its Section 3 (community investment) obligations. At HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo's urging, ILSR implemented a pilot project to demonstrate the viability of deconstruction

ILSR worked with the Hartford Housing Authority (HHA) and Manafort Brothers, Inc., a local construction and demolition (C&D) enterprise, to deconstruct six units of the Stowe Village Public Housing Complex. HHA provided $50,000 above traditional demolition costs in order to support this deconstruction training program. The returns were extraordinary. Nine worker-trainees were drawn from Hartford public housing; some had grown up in the very units they were deconstructing. Training, conducted by the Local 230 of the Laborers International Union and ILSR, was completed in six weeks, by which time the project had:

• deconstructed 6 units (8,250 square feet) at Stowe Village
• recovered and found markets for all recovered materials, generating $9,000 in sales
• trained workers for thousands less than the HUD-approved training costs
• forged alliances among the public and private sectors and national and local unions
• established a 51% worker-owned deconstruction enterprise (the Hartford Community Deconstruction Service Company)
• placed public housing residents in new, permanent, full-time, family-wage jobs
• created home ownership opportunities for low-income families residents
• reunited families through HHA's award-winning Family Reunification Program.

In addition to the direct benefits to the city of Hartford and the residents of Stowe Village, the project proved that deconstruction can be a viable complement or alternative to demolition (in this case costing 33% less than demolition), while creating new jobs and attracting new businesses and investment.

For a printable summary of the accomplishments of the Hartford project, please see Deconstruction at Work.