The introduction of new sections and criteria such as: A section dedicated to Site and Building Resilience. A section on Resource Conservation addresses minimized use of raw materials and encourages designing for deconstruction.
Source: Green Building Initiative Launches New Green Globes Pilot Program
“These HRI properties are significant,” said Brandon Spencer-Hartle, manager of the Historic Resources program. “We’re looking for ways to adapt them or sustain them into the future.”
Source: kgw.com | Portland aims to save more history by slowing demolitions
Even in its glory days, the planetarium-shaped house built by a mime in 1978 out of WWII aircraft carrier parts and other salvaged materials could best be enjoyed by people who appreciate theatrical curves and the unconventional.
John Killen/Special to The Oregonian
The Morris Marks House was built in 1880 based on designs by architect Warren Heywood Williams. The mansion, commissioned by a Polish shoe merchant, was originally located at 1134 S.W. 12th Ave.. It was moved in two pieces at a cost of about $440,000 in September 2017 to a vacant lot near the Interstate 405 interchange at Southwest Broadway and Sixth Avenue.
From above, Meyer’s new property, 2045 N. Vancouver Ave., overlooks Interstate 5, grain elevators along the Willamette River, the Broadway and Fremont bridges and the skyline of Northwest Portland.
An existing cinder block and metal sheet structure is in poor shape and will be removed, but timber supports inside will be creatively reused in the new design.
ONE WEEK LEFT TO APPLY TO REUSE ART/MAKER SHOW IN PORTLAND, OREGON!
Crackedpots 19th Annual Reuse Art Show! The 2018 cracked pots Art Show will be taking place on August 14th and 15th at McMenamins Edgefield in Troutdale, Oregon. Reuse Artists and Makers Applications will be taken until March 31st.
Diederick Kraaijeveld sculptor – Oudhout.Com
We are pleased to announce that the 2018 cracked pots Art Show will be taking place on August 14th and 15that McMenamins Edgefield in Troutdale, Oregon. Reuse Artists and Makers Applications will be taken until March 31st.
Portland city council has voted to strengthen procedures for demolishing older neighborhood homes, while tabling plans to extend a deconstruction mandate for homes built after 1916. (City of Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability)
“Originally, the goal was to begin at 1916 in Phase I, then move to 1926 as a next step and eventually include housing built before 1940 by the year 2019.” Wood said the advisory group realized that it would be “bad timing” to increase the number of structures covered too quickly, so the 1916 date will hold firm for the foreseeable future, as demolition procedures are tightened.
Andrew Smith, near some of the repurposed doors and windows for sale at ReStore in Portland. Staff photo by Brianna Soukup
There are over 800 ReStores in the United States, Smith said, most operating on a county-by-county basis.
Source: Portland ReStore manager has lowdown on used home goods, building materials – Portland Press Herald
Crackedpots Call for Reuse Artists Application Deadline March 31st. Criteria.
Our flagship material is a show-stopping mix of dense Asian hardwoods that arrive in Portland as transpacific shipping crates carrying steel railroad track. Designers love the long lengths, punctuated by vertical jet black lines where the tracks sat on the crates. We reclaim this wood ourselves, to rescue it and give it new life in Jakarta Paneling.
Source: Jakarta Paneling Collection – Viridian Reclaimed Wood
Join us to see the finished redesign of the benches that have seated millions of Portland’s finest butts. Collaboration design teams will be announced the first week of March on our website and instagram. Collaborators Sign-Up Deadline Feb. 26th @ 6pm (sign-up and info at www.PDXoriginals.com/DWP18) This is for the aspiring or profesional furniture designer inside us all.
Source: PDX Airport Bench Re-design Opening Night and Auction | Events | Design Week Portland
SAD-ROBOT Desk Lamp
Makegood is a collective of makers dedicated to giving new life to the discarded and reimagining salvaged materials. A portion of the sales of makegood artwork is donated to various non-profits including crackedpots.org and animal rescue organizations.
BEE-SMOKER Lamp
Source: makegood | aesthetic and functional redemption of abandoned objects
GLEAN is a juried art program that seeks to inspire people to think about their consumption habits, the waste they generate, and the resources they throw away by tapping into the creativity of artists from the Portland metro region.
Five GLEAN artists will be given access to the Metro Central transfer station (“the dump”) for five months to glean materials to make art. The program culminates in a formal exhibition in the fall. Artists will be paid a $2,000 stipend and receive 80% commission from the sale of their art at the exhibition.
Three houses are the focus of the petition. Photos from petition website.
“Classic style defines what exists in the neighborhood today, and your plans will amount to an architectural bomb disrupting a consistently historic street,” the petition says.
Source: Petition Aims to Stop Guy Bryant Demolitions | The Portland Chronicle
A bent lamination table lamp made to order from the industrial waste of skateboard manufacturing.
Source: Skatelamp — MapleXO
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The Saffron Fields Vineyard in Oregon. Courtesy of Saffron Fields Vineyard
Designed by architect Richard Shugar of 2Form Architecture, this tasting room in Oregon was completed in 2013. Originally on the site of a dairy farm, the winery’s new building uses reclaimed materials from the old barn and sits on a hill with panoramic views. A small patio cantilevers over a pond that laps against the south side of the building, and guests can enjoy wine on the expansive patio. Sloping roof planes extend from the building and also allow rainwater runoff to be collected for irrigation and to fill up the adjacent pond.
COURTESY PHOTO: PORTLAND CHRONICLE – Builder Peter Kusyk began demolition of a Northeast Portland church in April. Kusyk’s Firenze Development has faced off with neighbors of a Northeast Porltand bungalow because of concerns about lead in the demolition dust.
The problem was, as neighbors were to learn, the letter referred to lead levels in water running off a landfill. It had nothing to do with lead dust flying from a demolition.
Source: Pamplin Media Group – NE Portland demolition dust-up highlights fears over lead paint
“If we can save that amount of space in the landfills, that means that we’re not generating emissions from the decaying of those materials,” said expo organizer and re-use consultant, Sara Badiali. “The environmental impact is astounding.”
Source: Decon and Reuse Expo ’17: Portland’s landmark deconstruction ordinance takes center stage | KATU
Master of Special Problem Solving, Dave Bennink Disassembles 1,000 Buildings by Hand
by Sara Badiali
Imagine you are packing your car for a trip. You can only move your gear once, but you still have to maximize space. Sound difficult? Now imagine you have to do it with a stranger’s gear. That’s what Dave Bennink of Re-Use Consulting has been doing almost every week for the past 25 years.
But instead of gear, he does it with entire dismantled buildings. Dave’s expertise is in disassembling structures, staging the components for transport, and then moving them to be resold.
Dave deconstructs buildings for reuse. He’s dismantled 1,000 structures, in 42 states and 4 providences. He is a master of spatial problem solving. The materials are so big and take up so much space on site that they can only be moved once.
Dave Bennink’s extensive knowledge and experience meant that when the City of Portland passed their new Deconstruction Ordinance, they asked Dave to train the City’s first Certified Deconstruction Contractors. They also tapped him to train and certify a new deconstruction workforce.
In addition to his own business dismantling structures, Dave is a certified Deconstruction Trainer for the Building Material Reuse Association. He’s done trainings for the City of Seattle, Vancouver, other municipalities, numerous small businesses and organizations.
Students are drilled in safety, technique, material recovery, recycling, diversion equations, staging and selling materials. All of the lessons take place in the actual building the students are deconstructing.
It is a common site to see Dave drawing out waste diversion calculations on the interior walls one day, and the next day the walls are gone. If you ever buy reclaimed materials with calculations on them, you may have just purchased a piece of one of Dave’s many classrooms.
Along with his own business, and deconstruction training, Dave also is a consultant for reclaimed building material reuse start-ups. Guiding entrepreneurs with reuse business planning, deconstruction jobs, and marketing used building materials is Dave’s passion. 
He is happy to help new converts into the world of environmental stewardship, job creation, community building, and healthy alternatives to demolition. His motto is “Say no to the track hoe”.
If you are interested in meeting Dave Bennink you can see him present twice at the Decon + Reuse ’17 Expo: Saving Our Past, Building the Future conference in Portland, Oregon on September 24th-27th. Dave will be on a panel with some of his certified deconstruction students. He will also be speaking on the basic principles of starting a reuse business (including spatial acumen).
Dave will be presenting at the Decon + Reuse ’17 Expo with over 50 other building material reuse experts, and hundreds of participants. This is the largest building material reuse event in the country and is being hosted by the City of Portland, Metro, the Reclamation Administration, and Portland State University’s Institute for Sustainable Solutions.
Dave Bennink owns and operates Re-Use Consulting, which you can find it at ReuseConsulting.com. Or contact him at re-use@comcast.net or (360) 201-6977.
Mary Reese hunts for tile at the new Habitat for Humanity ReStore in Gresham.
Jacobson compares shopping for salvaged building materials to thrift or vintage shopping, and advises shopping early and often. “Stock changes from day to day and quantities can be limited,” he says. “The list of stores is growing and that makes it easier to find what you need, but the region’s supply chain for used building materials is still a work in progress” Also, he says, find a contractor willing to work with you, one who’s willing to deconstruct and salvage materials, as well as incorporate reused items into the new space.
Source: Something old, something new. (Re)using salvaged building materials | Metro
Last chance for earlybird pricing + outstanding keynotes + book your hotel now!
Fireworks Flash Sale Thru Friday!
Say that five times fast…
In keeping with a celebratory week, we’ve created a special sale and brought back earlybird pricing on Decon + Reuse ’17 for five days only!. Register today to lock in the savings, or wait til Sunday and help donate a bit extra to the BMRA.
Jim Lindberg & Adam Minter – Keynote Speakers
We have locked down two really outstanding keynote speakers for the conference. On Monday September 25th, Adam Minter will kick off the conference speaking to the globalization of reuse and recycling markets. Then on Tuesday we’ll hear from Jim Lindberg of Preservation Green Lab on how reuse is a key tool of re-urbanization and future building.
Hotel Blocks in Portland
The low low pricing that we managed to negotiate at two hotels in Portland expires on 7/24/17 – book your rooms today!
The Reclamation Administration has made a lot of friends over the years.
We are proud to say that over a third of the speakers for Decon + Reuse ’17 Expo: Saving our Past, Building the Future are from our invitations. These presenters have all been featured on the Reclamation Administration going as far back as 2011!
Here is a list of Presenters brought to you by the Reclamation Administration. You can see them all in Portland, Oregon on September 24th – 27th at the Decon + Reuse ’17 Expo.
“I had no idea deconstruction even existed,” Stigen says. “I was working a dead-end job. I had know idea what kind of trade I wanted to get into.” When she heard later about the deconstruction training, she said her first thought was “perfect. Sign me up.” When CityLab spoke with Stigen, she was on her lunch break at a deconstruction site with Lovett Deconstruction, where she secured a job before the training even started.
Source: Portland Finds Jobs in Its Ban on Demolition – CityLab
(Photo: Nina Mehlhaf)
That rule means a lot more certified deconstruction experts are needed. Tuesday, the city let us into a hands-on workshop at a home on Northwest 23rd Avenue, where 15 men and women were learning the trade.
Devon Campbell-Willliams is one of those trainees. He worked as a construction flagger before, and wanted to learn deconstruction technique hands on.
“You don’t want to go to straight in and straight up to pry up floorboards, if you do that you could crack the wood and it wouldn’t be reusable,” he said.
Source: Deconstruction of old homes creates more jobs in Portland | KGW.com
Photo by Kirby Neumann-Rea. A historic former Dee Lumber Co. building is collapsing from the weight of recent snow.
A historic former Dee Lumber Co. building is collapsing from the weight of recent snow.
Salvage Works, North Portland, Tracy Barry, KGW
Browning is part artist, part builder, so It’s not surprising that he is drawn to the inner beauty of the reclaimed lumber. And lucky for him, so are many others, just as eager to search for the stories hidden in every grain and to embrace the promise of reinvention.
Source: Movers and Makers: Salvage Works’ stories are told in wood | KGW.com
Everyone who frequently crosses the Ross Island Bridge has spotted the beeswax yellow Queen Anne Victorian-style mansion with a 50-foot-high turret. MLS#16396701. Photo provided by Premiere Property Group
The family earned its wealth through co-ownership of the Poulsen-Inman Lumber Co., then the largest lumber company in the state. Fellow timber baron Robert D. Inman erected a matching Queen Anne on the same east bluff overlooking the Willamette River. Inman, however, lived in his mansion. The properties, once safe in the Brooklyn neighborhood, were separated first by streaming traffic on the highway after the Ross Island Bridge was opened and later by bulldozers. In the 1950s, long after both men had died and their company sold to Georgia-Pacific, Inman’s house was torn down to make way for a parking lot, according to the Cafe Unknown history blog.
Philip Oatfield
Phil plumbed the house for gas, electricity not arriving until about 1913. Phil and Dora married Nov. 8, 1903, moved into the house, and started their family. To complement the landscape Phil planted an orchard and four Giant Sequoia trees from Broetje’s Nursey on Oatfield and Courtney Rds. – now Clackamas County Heritage Trees.
The purpose of both Oregon’s Historic Preservation Office and Clackamas County’s Historic Preservation Ordinance is to protect and preserve our historic and cultural resources. Unfortunately without the stewardship of a caring owner this process can be circumvented and financial realities can intervene. The legacy of the Oatfield family is quickly disappearing, and unless a philanthropic individual steps forward to move this house to a new location this historic community icon will be lost forever.
Philip Oatfield House now
Source: Clackamas County Landmark to be Demolished | Restore Oregon
A fireplace in the curved wall of the central hub welcomes visitors at Moovel headquarters in Portland’s Old Town Chinatown on Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2017. Moovel, a tech subsidiary of Daimler, opened its headquarters in the restored Overland Warehouse. (John Rudoff/For The Oregonian/OregonLive)
Moovel’s arrival in the neighborhood is the latest example of how Portland’s booming tech scene is transforming the city’s core. Portland’s Urban Development Partners spent more than a year, and upwards of $3.5 million, rehabilitating the Overland. Urban Development Partners project manager Joren Bass said the investment reflects ongoing revitalization in Old Town Chinatown and the historic nature of the Overland itself. “You can’t create space like that in a new building. It’s just impossible,” Bass said. “You can’t find timber like that anymore.” Moovel chief operating officer Sadhana Shenoy said the goal was to build community among employees, drawing on the building’s unique history.
Source: Moovel’s new Portland office restores 125-year-old fixture in Old Town Chinatown | OregonLive.com
Preston Browning, owner of Salvage Works, with some deconstructed lumber. (Salvage Works)
“You see on really the earliest barns all hand-hewn beams, very rustic, very beautiful well-aged material,” Browning said. “We sell a lot to contractors and fabricators who are building the interiors of restaurants and bars, coffee shops, offices, that sort of thing.” Anyone who’s been in a recently remodeled or newly built bar or restaurant in Portland has likely seen the kind of wood that fills Salvage Works’ 25,000 square foot complex. The deconstruction ordinance — and plenty of deteriorating barns — will keep them and Salvage Works in old wood for years to come. “It provides jobs, it keeps material out of the landfill and really provides this amazing material that you just can’t find anymore,” Browning said of the ordinance.
Source: Turning old barns and deconstructed buildings in lumber gold: Salvage works | KCBY
Renewal Workshop HQ: a stone’s throw from Bridge of the Gods in the beautiful Columbia Gorge. IMAGE: RENEWAL WORKSHOP
So what does the Renewal Workshop sell? Unique, restored activewear diverted from landfills and offered at significantly discounted prices. From its Cascade Locks repair facility, the Workshop intercepts articles of clothing from some of the biggest West Coast names in the outdoor clothing industry (think Prana, Ibex, and Mountain Khakis) that—due to small tears, sewing malfunctions, discolorations, and the like—have been deemed unfit for regular retail and normally would be on their way to landfills. Instead, the Renewal Workshop founders have worked out a unique arrangement with these companies: rather than trash these items, they’re gifted, and shipped, to Cascade Locks, to be washed and mended back to retail quality.
Source: This Cascade Locks Start-Up Saves Activewear from Landfills | Mount Hood | Portland Monthly
This is expected to divert about 8 million pounds of material from landfills per year and affect about 30% of homes that would be demolished. A study from the Northwest Economic Research Center estimates the policy could create 30-50 jobs and up to $1.5 million in local economic activity.
Source: UPDATE: Demolition ban aiming to reduce C&D waste in Portland, OR goes into effect | Waste Dive
I love the wooded feeling the trees give while still being in an urban setting. The floor plan is functional with 1920’s touches. And the energy upgrade completely turned this from drafty and cold to comfortable and efficient.
Recently renovated, green and energy efficient upgrades. This 1920’s style ranch home in mature David Douglas area. Owner is a General Contractor and Passive House builder & Consultant that remodeled this home from top to bottom and inside to outside. The home features over 1000 square feet of living space, three bedrooms with a functional floor plan. Outside entry area for the unfinished basement that is perfect for storage or a workshop.
Rebuilding Center Photo
Dismantling a home carefully enough that its components can be reused is a more intricate process than demolition. It takes longer and requires more labor in place of machinery. At first glance, the labor costs make deconstruction more expensive than demolition. In most cases, though, the tax benefits more than pay for deconstruction—the value of salvaged materials, which can be donated for tax credit or saved for reuse in later projects, is typically thousands of dollars greater than the cost difference between deconstruction and demolition. “When you don’t have to use energy to create a project, you’re just harvesting, it’s almost like free money,” Badiali says. “By simply dismantling something, you’re creating a product. You’re adding value.”
Source: Why Portland Requires Deconstruction for its Oldest Homes – CityLab
North Portland’s Rebuilding Center – KATU photo
“All of us are pro-urban density, we all understand the concept, but you can’t make these changes this fast and give nothing back to the communities who are there in the first place,” said Seward, “If Portland doesn’t pony up, it may already be too late.” Moretti hopes in the future, the city will consider including homes built in the 20’s and 30’s.
Hop and Vine is gone but these peddles once graced their walls. If you’ve ever been you’d remember the decor. Nostalgia for old Portland inspired this hanging lamp. Edison bulb, cloth covered wire, dimmer. $225. Contact reclamationnews @ gmail for more information on how to purchase.
A very sweet rolling table for sale. Cast aluminum base, adjustable height (2 ft at the tallest), 16″ x 22″ top. This is a mix of glue-lam top with a 1960’s drafting chair bottom. The handle is the chair’s adjustment knob. $300. Contact reclamationnews @ gmail for more information.
Two years ago I worked as a welder fabricating the Rose Parade Floats for the City of Portland, Oregon. This chandelier is made from a support armature that was eventually cut out of the float structure. It makes a perfect modern hanging light. Own a piece of Portland reclaimed history!
Reclaimed steel armature from the City of Portland’s Rose Parade float. Edison bulb, cloth covered wire, dimmer switch. $225. Contact reclamationnews @ gmail for purchase information.
“When a property owner requests any property be removed, we will not give a demolition permit until 120 days after that request,” Carson said. Fred Leeson, president of the Architectural Heritage Center said the delay is meaningless if the developer doesn’t want to come to the table to preserve, move or salvage the structure.
The Ocobock Mansion in Northeast Portland was built in 1913. (KATU Photo)
Other neighbors are concerned with how fast a home could be bought and almost torn down with little community input. “This house is indicative of so much of what’s happening here in Portland right now,” said Matthew Breeze, “How do we keep our communities livable and have a public process. I’m happy to have infill, but it should happen in a way that’s transparent.”
Source: northeast portland neighbors set to buy back historic home | KATU
Deconstruction vs. Demolition: Portland, Oregon’s Potential for Groundbreaking Health and Safety Studies in Building Demolition – By Sara Badiali
Demolition: deliberate destruction of a building or other structure.[1]
Deconstruction: the systematic dismantling of a building in order to recover the maximum amount of materials for reuse and recycling.[2]
The City of Portland is poised to contribute to the study of health and safety in building removal. The Deconstruction Ordinance will take effect starting October 2016. The ordinance outlines single family homes built before 1916 must be deconstructed for material reuse. Deconstructing buildings will greatly lower greenhouse gas emissions and material disposal in landfills over traditional demolition. Deconstruction not only provides access to unique materials but also viable building materials that would otherwise go to waste. The Deconstruction Ordinance will provide the first ever opportunity for side by side comparisons of demolition verses building deconstruction for environmental health and safety measures.
Portland presents an environment of blistering-fast paced development, houses upwards of one-hundred years old, and established demolition and deconstruction companies. Residential interest in environmental health and safety is at an all-time high due to incidents pertaining to lead and radon, and unprecedented housing demolition. Portland is also home to multiple academic organizations specializing in environmental health issues, health sciences, urban planning, and architecture.
By hosting studies of building removals, new information will lead to a better understanding of hazardous material reductions and ultimately best practices. Consequently research in Portland could be the catalyst for laws regulating more than standards for lead dust fall, but also heavy metals, asbestos, and water contamination in demolition practices.
Hazardous Particulates in Buildings
When a building is demolished, the mechanical action of crushing creates particulates of dust from the building’s materials. These particulates enter the air and spread throughout the environment. Machines repeatedly driving over the worksite further circulate these particulates. Atmospheric conditions like wind can exacerbate the spread of dust.
There are currently no U.S. federal regulatory standards for lead dust fall, exterior settled dust, or dust-suppression methods in housing demolition.[3] There are also very few demolition dust fall related studies, or inquiries into whether hand dismantling structures (deconstruction) reduces the spread of potentially hazardous air particulates.
Lead and asbestos are by far the most studied and discussed of hazardous materials attributed to buildings. Asbestos is proven to cause the fatal diseases asbestosis, pleural disease, and lung cancer. According to a 2011 survey by U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control, over 37 million homes have lead based paint somewhere in the building. [4] The majority of hazardous lead is in homes built before 1978.
One study indicates that 37 billion square feet of building components are coated with deteriorated lead-based paint.[5] A 2008 study of lead exposures in U.S. children found that “Exposure to lead can occur from many pathways and sources, but housing is the main pathway of exposure in the U.S., accounting for approximately 70% of childhood lead poisoning cases.”[6]
There are other less well known potential health hazards in buildings. Arsenic and heavy metals like chromium, copper, iron, and manganese are harmful to humans. These heavy metals are thought to be from use of pressure treated wood manufactured before 2003. Mercury is a common toxic waste present in buildings, including gas pressure regulators, boiler heating systems, and thermostats. According to the Massachusetts Water Resource Authority “The amount of mercury present in one mercury thermometer is enough to pollute 5 million gallons of water.”[7] That is the capacity to contaminate a 20-acre lake with enough mercury to result in a fish consumption warning, says Wastecap of Massachusetts. Benzene, a chemical related to natural gas, is also found harmful to humans. Environmental dust is especially problematic for people who suffer from asthma.
This Eastmoreland house was torn down last fall to make way for new construction. Mike Francis | The Oregonian/OregonLive
Already, though, some say the new rule isn’t enough. A group called United Neighborhoods for Reform wants the City Council to require deconstruction for all homes built before 1978 — when the government banned lead paint in consumer uses.
“When a house is demolished through mechanical demolition, lead is pulverized and sent up into the air and falls into neighbors’ yards as dust,” said Barbara Kerr, the group’s representative on the city’s Deconstruction Advisory Group. “If it’s deconstructed, it poses little danger.”
Source: Portland City Council to discuss deconstruction requirements | OregonLive.com
Squatters protest the demolition of a home in Southeast Portland. Amelia Templeton/OPB
“This will allow residents to acquire quality used building materials such as old growth lumber and some of the pieces of Portland history that otherwise would have been discarded into the landfill,” said Zach Klonoski, a sustainability advisor to the mayor.
Source: Portland Moves Forward With Demolition Ban For Old Homes . News | OPB
“It’s possible to have a neighborhood under this section of code with very few financial resources, and then we have a case here where there’s a neighborhood with a significant amount of resources and we get an entirely different result,” he said. “From a diversity, from a fairness, from a just general perception of government I think, that raises the possibility of having different decisions based solely on economics.”
Source: Concerns and Questions Mount Over Demolition Appeal Process | The Portland Chronicle
Crews began demolishing this home at 9134 N. Edison in Portland on Monday. (KATU Photo)
“They built this house, but this house was down on the river,” said Tanya March, who claims to know the home’s history. “We know it was moved up the hill in 1904.” The home had been added to over the years, perhaps hiding any historical uniqueness.
Source: Crews begin demolishing North Portland home that may date to 1870s | KATU
On October 31 of this year Portland plans to implement a policy requiring deconstruction on any demolition of a house or duplex which was built in 1916 or earlier. Pre-1917 houses currently account for approximately one-third of the 300+ demolitions taking place in the city each year.
A number of BMRA members have been involved with the effort to develop, pass and implement a deconstruction ordinance in Portland. BMRA member Sara Badiali, of the Reclamation Administration and also a member of the City of Portland Deconstruction Advisory Group touts the pioneering aspect of this effort:
“The City of Portland, Oregon’s Deconstruction Ordinance is unique as the very first in the world to lawfully require dismantling buildings for reuse. Its historical precedence lays the foundation for other laws to be created to close the loop in our building material waste streams. I am honored to be on the team that created the Deconstruction Ordinance and I am thrilled for the future of the planet.”
Source: BMRA News June 2016
“The vision behind Upcycle Oregon is to draw our community and our home state together as thoughtful consumers and creative re-users,” Greene said. “It’s our goal that visitors who attend this free community event will leave with inspiration and practical ideas for making creative reuse a regular part of their lives.”
This month marks 25 years since the nonprofit began giving back to the community. Since it started, the group has repaired more than 1,200 homes, putting an estimated $20 million in market value back into the Portland metro area.
Malone said his organization has noticed a big increase in need over the last couple years, as Portland faces an affordable housing crisis. “The need is not going down by any means. If these people moved out, they couldn’t afford another house. Young families can’t afford to buy a house, let alone an elderly person. We are dealing with a lot of multiple family units living in one home, because the kids can’t even afford an apartment,” said Malone.
Source: Nonproft rebuilding Portland homes amid affordable housing crisis | KGW.com