CITY OF VANCOUVER
“The Empty Homes Tax (also known as the Vacancy Tax) was developed to help relieve pressure on Vancouver’s rental housing market, by returning empty or under-utilized properties to the long-term rental market,” the release reads. “Revenue generated by the tax is required to be used for affordable housing initiatives in Vancouver.”
Unbuildersconstruction/Instagram
Unbuilders is quickly becoming Canada’s deconstruction industry leader.Over the past year, Unbuilders has saved over 100,000 board feet of lumber and 250 tonnes of garbage from being thrown in landfills.In the most recent unbuild, just 3% of materials from an entire house ended up in the landfill.
Source: Vancouver-based Unbuilders aims to transform how homes are demolished | Daily Hive Vancouver
According to Vancouver bylaws, at least 75 per cent of the material in homes built before 1940 must be recycled. In the case of heritage or character homes, that number is 90 per cent.
Installation view of Emily Neufeld’s Before Demolition, her solo exhibition at Burrard Arts Foundation Gallery. (Photo: Dennis Ha/Courtesy of BAF Gallery)
Houses are the subject of Neufeld’s work, sure, but they’re also her canvas, her materials and her gallery. And since 2014, she’s found a way inside ordinary bungalows and split-levels around East and North Vancouver before the bulldozers arrive, securing permission through the builders.
Emily Neufeld. Grand Boulevard. 2015. (Courtesy of the artist)
Source: Before the bulldozers arrive, this Vancouver artist turns empty houses into works of art | CBC Arts
Christina Radvak leads Habitat for Humanity’s deconstruction team which removes useable materials from homes slated for demolition. The materials, construction materials, hardware and other useable goods, are sold through the non-profit society’s ReStores, which are located throughout B.C. ReStores are a popular shopping outlet for do-it-yourselfers and smaller contractors.
Badelt, a Buildex Vancouver panel member at session W33: Deconstruction and the Green Demolition Bylaw on Feb. 15-16, said the city brought the bylaw, which is similar to those in the U.S., into effect for two reasons. Cities want to reduce landfill materials, but many of these earlier homes contain quality wood and craftsmanship.
“These buildings have old-growth wood and we want to save those materials as well as the architectural details such as the old style windows. We saw a lot of material that could be salvaged and recycled,” he said. The bylaw also aligns itself with heritage conservation values in the city.
Source: Journal Of Commerce – Cities looking at more deconstruction and salvaged materials
Wood planking was stripped from the wall of a 75-year-old barn alongside the Island Highway in Qualicum Bay by a trespasser earlier this month.— Image Credit: J.R. RARDON PHOTO
The barn apparently fell victim to a hot building trend, in which weathered and distressed wood from salvage buildings is used to build furniture, wall paneling and trendy bars and restaurants. “I get people here looking for it all the time,” said Bernie Muller of Demxx Deconstruction in Coombs. “You’ll have guys in Vancouver who pay $7 a square foot for those slabs. It’s probably more valuable than drugs.”
Source: Theft of wood from barn in Qualicum Bay: Nailed down but not safe – Parksville Qualicum News
“One day there’s a beautiful house on a corner, and the next day it’s gone,” frets Oak Bay rookie councillor Eric Zhelka, who worries his community is losing its old country charm, its heart and soul. Many of them are shipped south to Washington state, where people appreciate their hand-nailed craftsmanship and character. Oak Bay’s early 20th-century dwellings are being floated on barges to San Juan Island, where they’re offered to folks stuck in affordable housing jams.
Source: Venerable B.C. homes shipped by barge to U.S. and offered as cheap housing