File photo/Black Press Media
Initiatives include talks with the University of British Columbia Okanagan on research programs, and a building deconstruction pilot program. A city-owned property on KLO Road was deconstructed a few weeks ago in partnership with Unbuilders and Habitat for Humanity.
Source: Glenmore landfill in Kelowna going greener with new initiatives – Lake Country Calendar
Originally slated for a remodel, a condemned house at the DePauw Campus Farm is instead serving as a winter term project, with students (below) figuring out how to tear down the home with the smallest environmental impact. Courtesy photos/DEPAUW UNIVERSITY
But even that knowledge is useful, Everett argues, whether for an architect planning for the entire lifecycle of a building, or a college student learning the bigger picture of what it means to build a home.
“For us, even if the financial opportunities of deconstruction are few, the educational opportunities are extremely plentiful,” Everett said. In addition to the deconstruction aspect of the course, students are also being exposed to outside perspectives on the life of materials, with guest lectures from arts and humanities professors as well as recycling and building deconstruction professionals.
“The thing I most want students to take away from this course is an embodied understanding that they have the power to make real change in the world, right now,” Everett said. “Nothing stands between them and the work of making the world a better, more sensible, more caring, more mindful place – starting here, at DePauw, with this house.”
Construction crew (from left) Marcus Banks, Demetrik Williams and supervisor Steven Teasley listen while Mayor Tom Barrett holds a press conference in front of a home at 2700 block of N. 40th St. Angela Peterson
The city will train unemployed residents of the Sherman Park neighborhood for construction jobs by starting them on crews to disassemble vacant city-owned houses, Mayor Tom Barrett said Wednesday.
Dismantling an abandoned house with a goal of salvaging building materials for reuse and recycling can provide the training and work experience needed for someone to step into a job in the construction industry, he said.
Brandon Shirlee of Pontiac works on the interior of a long-vacant building on West Huron near the former Pontiac Central High School. Shirlee is one of 10 workers who are learning job skills while harvesting wood, tile and more from aging buildings to sell in the vintage building materials market. Anne Runkle — The Oakland Press
“You can’t buy 100-year-old oak anymore,” said Ron Borngesser, OLHSA chief executive officer, as he explained the value of harvesting materials from the building, which dates to 1920. It has been vacant for about three decades and had recently been home to squatters, he said. OLHSA is working in cooperation with Architectural Salvage Warehouse of Detroit, a nonprofit organization that promotes the environmental advantages of diverting reusable building materials from landfills, as well as the job training benefits.
Source: Revive Pontiac teaches job skills, harvests vintage building materials
Native American workers for Miigwech Aki Deconstruction (Co.), based at Bemidji, recently completed deconstructing a commercial building in downtown Minneapolis and a large Twin Cities suburban home. They have also started deconstructing two abandoned properties in the Chippewa National Forest in northern Minnesota.
Source: The Circle | NEWS FROM A NATIVE AMERICAN PERSPECTIVE – Deconstruction for Mother Earth
Disassembly of the Bay Bridge’s eastern span. Courtesy Sam Burbank.
This is the world architect and building scientist Bradley Guy—assistant professor of sustainable design at The Catholic University of America School of Architecture and Planning, as well as author of Unbuilding: Salvaging the Architectural Treasures of Unwanted Houses—has been slowly, arduously advocating for since the mid-1990s, when he was introduced to the idea of designing for deconstruction. Design for deconstruction (or disassembly, sometimes abbreviated DfD) is a design philosophy and set of strategies that acknowledge that the vast majority of buildings have a life span.
via Recycled Buildings or Bridges? Designing for Deconstruction Beyond Adaptive Reuse.
Rachel Meyer, left, and Misty Sedotal, both pre-apprentices with Oregon Tradeswomen, Inc., deconstruct a former strip club in the Cully neighborhood of Northeast Portland. (Sam Tenney/DJC)
“We know what was going on behind these walls,” Neel said. “So yeah, this feels good. There’s something poetic about it – I mean, this building was used to disempower women for years. There was prostitution, all kinds of stuff. Now to have a project that will benefit the community and give women an opportunity to learn a trade and be able to earn a good living – there’s nothing more empowering than that.”
Students said they enjoy working around and being taught by other women. They expect the experience to help them make the jump to a field long dominated by men.
Oregon Tradeswomen pre-apprentice Yolanda Sandoval removes a ceiling grid at a Northeast Portland building that is being redeveloped by a coalition of community groups into the Living Cully Plaza. (Sam Tenney/DJC)
via Women apprentices dismantle ex-strip club | Daily Journal of Commerce.
Big News! The Daily Record has named Humanim’s Jeff Carroll and the DETAILS team as “Innovator of the Year.”
DETAILS, a Humanim social enterprise, is a nonprofit deconstruction business with a social mission: creating jobs for people who, for many reasons, have faced difficulty getting hired. We train and hire men and women to take apart buildings – rather than demolishing them – and then we salvage the materials for resale, reuse or repurposing.
via Humanim – Home.
From construction and manufacturing to art and handicrafts, the articulation of knowledge and skill through tools and materials is the foundation of quality craftsmanship. The National Center for Craftsmanship is assuring that the knowledge, skills and abilities of our community’s finest craftspeople is passed on to future generations. Won’t you join us and help build the next generation of craftspeople?
via Preserve Craftsmanship by Teaching Building Deconstruction.
In a joint effort to establish deconstruction and materials reuse methods as feasible options for reducing construction and demolition waste in Iowa, the Center on Sustainable Communities (COSC) and the Iowa Waste Reduction Center (IWRC) have scheduled a Rethinking Demolition workshop at the Corning Public Library on March 13.
via Rethinking Demolition workshop March 13 – Washington County Enterprise and Pilot Tribune: Living.
Illinois Central College is launching a program that will teach students how to keep building materials out of landfills.
Students can earn a “deconstruction and building materials salvage and reuse” certificate. The program was given a boost by a $500,000 grant from the Illinois Department of Labor.
This is great news! Anne Nicklin is a knowledgeable and excellent resource in the building material reuse industry. Her accomplishments are too numerous to mention here. If you live in Illinois we highly recommend taking her class at Illinois Central College.
“Debris and waste are just materials in the wrong place,” said Anne Nicklin, curriculum development and instructor at ICC.
Nicklin said that little infrastructure or certified laborers exist in central Illinois to handle the recycling of material from the Nov. 17 tornado in Washington, and the loss of materials is staggering.
‘It’s atrocious what’s happening in Washington,’ Nicklin said. ‘Driving through and seeing the debris, so much materials are there. We need to ensure, God forbid it happens again, that these materials don’t need to go to the landfill.’
According to Nicklin, 40 to 60 percent of the national waste stream comes from construction and demolition debris, most of which can be recycled. The certificate program is open to both employers who want to expand the diversity of its employees and current students who might be tracking toward a construction, architecture or demolition career. Registration for the spring semester is open on ICC’s website.
via ICC adds building salvage course – News – Pekin Daily Times – Pekin, IL – Pekin, IL.
The Building Material Reuse Association have just released an accredited training course on deconstruction. Both to be trained as a deconstructionist – but also as a decon teacher!
Check out the links below and see for yourself – this is a well developed comprehensive deconstruction training certificate program. Thanks BMRA!
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Building Material Reuse Association Training We now have a full detail of the training program, credential, and textbook available on the bmra.org website. Share the flyer with your contacts, sign yourself up to take the first credential exam, or purchase a new copy of the textbook. |
The business and workforce training initiative uses funds from legal settlements in bank predatory home lending cases to train the disadvantaged and long-term unemployed.
About 10 are on the payroll now learning how to run a warehouse and inventory and successfully salvage building materials from a selection of the area’s thousands of abandoned homes, Kent said. ARC has deconstructed more than 200 homes in three years.
There’s green in ARC’s mission, too. Kent is keen on keeping historically significant building materials out of the landfills. Kent says he emphasizes skills such as punctuality, attitude, comprehension of tasks, work ethic, leadership and compatibility among workers while deconstructing blighted structures. His target is to do 50 homes per year.
Don’t miss the entire article via Pieces of local architectural history to go on sale | www.daytondailynews.com.
Whether you have one day or all three, you can choose the days you want to attend the conference. Because BMRA wants the broadest mix of building materials reuse advocates possible, we offer special admission prices for students. There are discounts for BMRA members, speakers at the conference, and additional discounts for those registering early- the earlier you register, the better the price. Register now!
The General Admission price is for all non-student conference guests. It covers all three days of the event plus conference meals.
If you’re a member, you can save with a discount code of 10% off on your registration.
Click here to request your membership coupon code.
General Admission + BMRA Membership
Has your BMRA membership lapsed? Looking to support the field of recovery and reuse by becoming a first time member? Here’s an opportunity to sign up for membership and receive an automatic discount on your Decon ’13 registration.
Students who want to attend Decon’ 13 have two options: they can register for the conference with meals for $225.00 or without meals for only $75.
Choose any day that’s good for your for you. $225.
If you’re a member, you can save with a discount code of 10% off on your registration.
Click here to request your membership coupon code.
Are you bringing a bunch of your friends with you to Seattle? Or looking for an affordable way to bring your whole decon crew? When you buy multiple tickets at once, there are big discounts.
Sustainable Building Deconstruction and Materials
ReuseSalem, Oregon
Tuesday, March 19 2013, 8:00 AM – Wednesday, March 20 2013 to 5:00 PMFee$295.00Summary
This two-day training will help you build the business case for deconstruction and reuse and will provide an overview of important elements to consider.
Credits/Accreditations
CCB: 14 elective hours
AIA: 14 learning units
OR Real Estate Agency:
14 elective hours
*To be eligible for funding assistance, applicants must be residents of Oregon.
In the Pacific Northwest, construction waste accounts for about a quarter of waste stream volume. Approximately 85 percent of a building’s major components that typically end up in landfills during demolition can be diverted for reuse; and the overall cost of deconstruction is often comparable to, if not lower than standard demolition costs, after tax benefits are factored in. This two-day training will help you build the business case for deconstruction and reuse and will provide an overview of important elements to consider, including: hazard identification, safety, planning & logistics, and deconstruction and reuse best practices.
Training materials include a tool kit with documentation to help plan and manage the deconstruction process. Participants in Portland will receive a tour of The ReBuilding Center and participants in Salem will tour Habitat ReStore. All students will have the opportunity to observe the deconstruction process during a field visit.
“not that much is salvageable,” – Um anyone else wanna call bullshit on this?
Although the monetary terms were not released, Del Rosario said the proposal involves student labor from the University of Hawaii Maui College’s Sustainable Construction and Technology Program. She called the idea of student internships a “value-added component” of the project.
“I will provide an opportunity for students in the sustainable construction program to participate in the deconstruction process,” she said.
County officials have wanted to salvage as much of the building materials as possible and not have them go to the Central Maui Landfill, Hironaka said. People who have looked at the building – constructed with African mahogany, a valuable, high-quality wood – have determined that “not that much is salvageable,” Hironaka said, because it was built in a tongue-and-groove fashion.
“There’s no nails,” he said. “Everything just kind of fits together.”
Kansas City, MO – infoZine – EnergyWorks KC, an energy efficiency program managed by the City of Kansas City, MOs Office of Environmental Quality, is collaborating with the Green Impact Zone, a neighborhood transformation initiative managed by Mid-America Regional Council, to put trainees that completed an April 2011 deconstruction training course to work.
“These trainees learned valuable skills that will enable them to repurpose materials and help restore our neighborhoods,” said Jenifer Degen, EWKC contract manager.
Through this project, EnergyWorks KC seeks to divert materials previously categorized as “waste” from landfills and thus preserve our countrys resources. The process of deconstruction salvages and recycles materials such as doors, sinks, windows, lumber, plywood and other building components that retain value.
“The homes selected to be deconstructed were chosen directly from the City of Kansas City, MOs Dangerous Buildings list. Materials will be weighed and tracked to determine the tonnage saved, and a concerted effort will be made to reuse and then recycle as many items as possible before sending the remaining materials to the landfill,” Degen said.
This month, the City of Kansas City, MO, will issue a bid by the procurement office, to be posted on the Citys Plan Room. All interested contractors are invited to bid. Note that Davis Bacon wages will apply to this project.
The emphasis of the EnergyWorks KC program is to improve the energy efficiency of existing buildings throughout Kansas City, MO. Other program components include water conservation education, regional energy efficiency education, creation of a small business incubator, neighborhood energy efficiency projects, workforce development and job creation.
via KCMO Energyworks KC Deconstructs Homes in Green Impact Zone – Kansas City, Missouri News.
Louisiana, USA – Dave Bennink of Re-Use Consulting was asked by the group Core USA to travel to New Orleans in Louisiana to help manage America’s largest deconstruction crew. Over 2,700 volunteers traveled to New Orleans to help and learn about building deconstruction and salvage work, and how it could help their communities around the United States. The event was a great opportunity to promote the benefits of building material reuse operations.
Volunteers were eager to get their hands dirty, but each group first sat through an educational session and safety talk. Bennink told a hypothetical story of how unemployed workers from where they live could literally walk to work where they would deconstruct blighted inner-city structures. These structures would produce materials that could be sold to lower-income building owners that couldn’t afford new, and to historic renovation projects that couldn’t use new products.
Once this talk was over, the volunteers helped local workers to deconstruct blighted buildings surrounding a local daycare center, and the materials were made available to local groups. This project was another example of how salvage businesses are striving for the elusive win-win scenario, where the environment and social benefits are achieved at a profit. Bennink’s hope is that those 2,700+ volunteers will spread the word once they return home and potentially join the reuse movement someday soon.
via America’s Biggest Deconstruction Crew Hits New Orleans – SalvoNews.com.
The Harvest Moon Society has arranged for Dave Bennink (from Washington State), named “Deconstructor of the Year” in 2009, to come to Clearwater to lead a four day workshop on efficient building deconstruction and material reclaiming methods.
Dates: August 9-12, 2012
Location: Clearwater, MB area
Cost: $600 – includes instruction, tenting space and food. In order to make this course accessible to all we have a limited number of subsidies available – please contact grahamt.is@gmail.com for more info.
Register Here!
Dave has deconstructed hundreds of buildings and travels all over North America teaching about the amazing poten- tial of abandoned and unused buildings while remaining sustainable and cost effective.
The course will involve some class time but, more impor- tantly, the majority of the learning will be hands-on dur- ing the deconstruction of a local building. All these valu- able materials reclaimed from the deconstruction will be used for an addition to the Harvest Moon Learning Centre.
Space is limited. If interested, please contact Graham Taylor: grahamt.is@gmail.com | 204 479 7525
Continue reading Building Deconstruction Workshop | Harvest Moon Society
Dan Oswald, instructor in the Deconstruction and Retrofit program at Iowa Central Community College (ICCC), has been training students for the deconstruction industry since ICCC received a grant to begin the program in 2010.
Two years into the program, Dan discusses the progress being made in instruction and in the industry in Iowa.
Q: What is “deconstruction”?
A: Deconstruction is defined as “the process of systematically removing a building or structure by taking it apart in the reverse order of construction (with a goal of maximizing reuse and recycling).”
The last part of that definition is worth taking a second look at: deconstruction’s goal is to “maximize reuse and recycling.” In other words, the goal is to keep as much of the deconstructed materials from going to the landfill. Many components—old-growth lumber, copper, and more—are valuable and can be reused in other ways.
Q: Is it possible to salvage many of the old materials?
A: That is both the opportunity and the challenge of deconstruction. Since I’m training building/construction professionals in this field, the question I get most often is, “I like the idea, but does it pay?” The short answer to that question is, yes it can … but it depends.
Until there is a more robust network of Iowans using the deconstructed materials, it is a little tricky to get rid of materials for a price that can ensure profitability. That doesn’t mean we should give up however; in fact, Iowa might be considered a perfect location for deconstruction projects.
Q: Why is Iowa a perfect location for deconstruction projects?
A: Nearly half of houses in Iowa are considered dilapidated. In addition, think about how many small town main streets have blocks of buildings that are vacant and falling down, or are still occupied but in poor repair? What about all the barns, hog houses, chicken houses, and other agriculture-related buildings on our farms? Many of these buildings were built between the late 1800s to the 1930s and 1940s and are in need of repair or replacement.
Continue reading REC Info Center: Home Building & Remodeling: Deconstruction and reuse
Description of Reclaim + Remake Course
This course has been developed as a 6-credit eight-week (May 7 – June 30, 2012) design-build course offered by the Summer Institute for Architecture of the NAAB-accredited The Catholic University of America School of Architecture + Planning (CUArch). The project that is the focus of the course is at the site of the historic Hopewell Cemetery in Warren Township, Jefferson County, OH. The scope of the project consists of the careful dismantling of the abandoned and historic Hopewell United Methodist Church structure located at this site, and the design and construction of a commemorative and contemplative structure in the same footprint using the materials of the pre-existing structure. It is expected that (based on final participant numbers), the dismantling phase will take 3-4 weeks and the build phase will take 4-5 weeks. The design process will take place throughout the entire eight weeks. This course is open to both CUArch and non-CUArch students for credit. It is recommended that students be either upper-level undergraduate (Junior or Senior) or graduate-level.
The eight-week course will take place entirely on-site in Ohio. The Hopewell United Methodist Church will provide sleeping space in their facility several hundred yards from the cemetery site. The facility has a commercial kitchen and restroom and shower facilities and a large eating and meeting room. The course will run Mondays-Fridays with weekends available for options for rest, explorations in the region, etc. Students will be able to bring their own vehicles and a group / project vehicle will be on-site for the project. The site is in a rural area approximately 50 miles to the southwest of Pittsburgh, PA and approximately 130 miles east of Columbus, OH. Students will be responsible for their travel to and from the site.
This course is offered through the Summer Institute for Architecture at CUArch
( http://architecture.cua.edu/summerprograms/index.cfm ). The application for CUA Summer Programs can be found at the following link ( http://summer.cua.edu/applications/index.cfm ). Click on “Visiting College and Summer College Student Application”. The click on either “Undergraduate or Graduate Applicants – Start a New Application”, then click on “Create Account” if not a CUA student. Applications for these programs are due by April 15, 2012.
For any questions about details of the project and the course logistics please feel free to contact: Bradley Guy, GUY@cua.edu
For information about CUArch Summer Institute for Architecture please direct inquiries to:
Julie Kim
Director of CUArch Summer Institute for Architecture
Office: 209 Crough Center
Tel: 202-319-6106
Email: kimk@cua.edu
Continue reading Description of Reclaim + Remake Course at CUArch
Ohio, USA – The Reclaim + Remake course has been developed as a 6-credit eight-week (May 7 – June 30, 2012) design-build course offered by the Summer Institute for Architecture of the NAAB-accredited The Catholic University of America School of Architecture + Planning (CUArch).
The focus of the course is the historic Hopewell Cemetery in Warren Township, Jefferson County, OH. The scope of the project consists of the careful dismantling of the abandoned and historic Hopewell United Methodist Church structure located at this site, and the design and construction of a commemorative and contemplative structure in the same footprint using the recovered materials of the pre-existing structure.
It is expected that (based on final participant numbers), the dismantling phase will take 3-4 weeks and the build phase will take 4-5 weeks. The design process will take place throughout the entire eight weeks. This course is open to non-CUArch students for university-level credit. It is recommended that students be either upper-level undergraduate (Junior or Senior) or graduate-level.
The eight-week course will take place entirely on-site in Ohio. The Hopewell United Methodist Church will provide sleeping space in their facility several hundred yards from the cemetery site. The facility has a commercial kitchen and restroom and shower facilities and a large eating and meeting room. The course will run Mondays-Fridays with weekends available for options for rest, explorations in the region, etc. Students will be able to bring their own vehicles and a group / project vehicle will be on-site for the project. The site is in a rural area approximately 50 miles to the southwest of Pittsburgh, PA and approximately 130 miles east of Columbus, OH. Students will be responsible for their travel to and from the site.
This course is offered through the Summer Institute for Architecture at CUArch. Applications for these programs are due by April 15, 2012.
For any questions about details of the project and the course logistics please feel free to contact: Bradley Guy, (GUY at cua dot edu)
via University offers course in practical dismantling and same-site reuse – SalvoNews.com.
MCC will train up to 35 individual contractors/laborers in abatement and deconstruction and offer small business development training to 12 new and small businesses. The program will implement an On-the-Job Training program to place up to 32 residents trained in abatement and deconstruction into jobs with contractors for the KCMOPD East Patrol Division and Regional Crime Lab’s $57 million development project on a 20-acre campus between 26th–27th Streets and Brooklyn–Prospect Avenues.
Sixty-six structures, mostly residential, will be demolished and the city hopes to employ local companies hiring local residents to abate the properties and deconstruct using principles of materials remediation to reduce the amount of waste deposited in landfills.
“If you’re designing commercial buildings and shopping centres for a living, that’s all great, but it didn’t seem to be making the world a better place, so I went to the University of Florida to study green building. This was in the early 1980s and there were no established programmes at that time, so I spent a lot of time in the library and learned that green building was much more than passive solar design. I met a guy whose goal was to open a reuse store. His name was Kevin Ratkus and we worked to put together the first deconstruction research projects at the university taking apart several homes, and then tracking and analyzing the results.”
via Brad Guy’s academic take on U.S. architectural salvage – SalvoNews.com.
