2022 CLF Boston/New England Reuse Roadmap - Manual / Resource - Page 21
Deconstruction and
Material Reuse Roadmap
from salvaging like-new products and materials to
use in their other leased spaces. These owners have
the easiest time piloting deconstruction projects
on many of their typical quick turnover spaces.
An owner that allows deconstruction of their leased
spaces and reuse of materials allows design teams
to bring more potential tenants to spaces, and
can decrease the upfront cost of move-ins. With
the two to five-year turnover of typical spaces in
the Boston market, salvaging materials such as
doors, light fixtures, and furniture can allow new
tenants to move in more quickly, at a lower cost,
and with a much lower embodied carbon impact.
How do we get there?
While new changes in policy and legislation
can certainly motivate owners to begin more
fully embracing building and material reuse,
owners can promote deconstruction and reuse
in the region with the following steps:
1. Integrate educational materials on the
benefits of green buildings, including the
many financial and scheduling benefits of
building and material reuse, and energyefficient practices into building operations.
2. Develop policies that require designers to
review tenant spaces for opportunities to
deconstruct and reuse materials and limit
C&D waste leaving owned project sites.
Additionally, owner contracts often stipulate that
a certain percentage of materials on projects are
reserved for attic stock or storage to use for material
reuse laydown space. These spaces can enable
owners to both quantify and categorize materials
with which designers can plan new spaces.
3. Examine attic stock and physical laydown space
to determine the feasibility of storing typical
building material used in tenant renovations.
A living stock list allows design communities
to know exactly what they can work with, what
matches the building space, and how much material
may need to be ordered. Less waste correlates
to less hassle, a request from every owner.
5. Quantify and transparently report findings
of implementing these policies to
help build momentum and help refine
the aforementioned policies.
Going a step further, owners can address salvage
and reuse in their RFP language. They can require
the design to promote later deconstruction,
fundamental reuse of materials in the current
space, or that those materials are salvaged and
donated or returned to manufacturers with
take-back programs (where applicable).
4. Incorporate deconstruction and reuse
as a method of lowering the embodied
carbon impacts of projects, and reducing
further operational carbon impacts.
project owners need to see that material reuse
and deconstruction are great ways to lower the
embodied carbon profile of a project immediately.
Lastly, corporate ESG reporting is becoming
a much higher priority for many mid-size and
above corporations. Public opinion towards
the climate crisis and better environmental
decisions is causing companies to ramp up their
corporate and construction standards.
By embracing and understanding the benefits of
reuse in reducing embodied carbon of projects
and the reduced impact of C&D waste, owners and
developers can benefit in the public eye. Several
toolkits and online calculators are also available
to exactly calculate the carbon, energy and waste
savings of deconstruction and reuse, such as the
CLF Embodied Carbon Toolkit for Owners.
Owners can address
salvage and reuse in
their RFP language.
They can require the
design to promote
later deconstruction,
fundamental reuse
of materials in the
current space, or
that those materials
are salvaged and
donated or returned
to manufacturers with
take-back programs
(where applicable).
In many cases, owners moving into spaces or
controlling large buildings simply do not want to
worry about where the previous tenants’ materials are
going, seeing it truly as waste and needing it gone.
By educating owners and developers about the tax
incentives of donating to nonprofits, along with
the benefits of guaranteed material availability on
lead times and costs, many of the decisions made
daily can shift towards reuse and deconstruction.
In Massachusetts, several current laws and
policies are pushing building owners towards lower
embodied carbon decisions. With Boston moving
towards a zero net carbon standard, building and
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