2022 CLF Boston/New England Reuse Roadmap - Manual / Resource - Page 22
Deconstruction and
Material Reuse Roadmap
Project Support and Innovation
These stakeholders, while not always directly involved in
project decisions, help the industry develop best practices,
maximize safety and efficiency, and spur innovation.
In the AEC industry, there are several layers of
project support that typically influence decisions
made before, during and after construction. These
stakeholders, while not always directly involved in
project decisions, help the industry develop best
practices, maximize safety and efficiency, and spur
innovation. NGOs, advocacy groups, nonprofits, and
problems within the built environment to spur
industry innovation. While oftentimes slow to
make a significant impact, breakthroughs and new
products need to be first tested, refined and then
adopted at scale by the construction industry. This
formula has proved difficult in an industry which is slow
to change and has little incentive to do so.
expert opinions, experience, and innovative thinking.
Generate Architecture and Technologies, a startup
company out of MIT and Harvard University,
headed by John Klein, is an example of research to
implementation. Generate is building a five-story
affordable housing block in Boston that will use
their Model-C prototype “kit of parts” system. This
system is a type of modular prefabrication that
allows for disassembly and reuse.
researchers play an important role in leading the wider
industry to take action on critical matters that require
A recent example of such action can be seen
with the collaboration between The Carbon
Leadership Forum (CLF), non-profit Architecture
2030, American Institute of Architects (AIA),
and Structural Engineers Institute (SEI) who have
begun to address embodied carbon in the built
environment through research and educational
outreach.
Researchers are also crucial in improving and
developing new technologies, tools, and methods.
Starting with simple ideas, researchers help to
explore the logistical, material and structural
Ecovative is a collaboration between Columbia
University, New York University (NYU), and the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
to demonstrate the feasibility of mycelium
grown composite buildings and other exciting
building technologies. In initial pilot programs,
this collaborative was able to develop alternative
material bricks that were grown in just five days,
producing no waste or carbon emissions. When
the structure was taken down at the end of the
summer, the bricks were composted and turned
into fertilizer.
In the local area, several nonprofits provide project
support in the form of resale or marketplace
services for salvaged materials. Boston Building
Resources accepts donations of good-quality used
and surplus building materials and sells them at
discounted prices for low-income customers and
other nonprofits.
Researchers at Washington State University are
tackling the circularity issues of gypsum wallboard
(GWB) recycling and reuse by transforming GWB
scrap and waste into new building materials.The
technology at pilot scale shreds GWB, combining
the shreds with chemical binders to create both
alternatives to concrete blocks (drywall waste
blocks) as well as new wall systems (drywall waste
walls). It is the hope that these products create
a defined method of recycling and reusing GWB,
with an end market of interior projects that use
the drywall waste walls to replace typical wall
assemblies.
RecyclingWorks MA plays a similar role, albeit
as a MassDEP funded recycling assistance
program. These organizations will be important in
collecting data to demonstrate the feasibility of
deconstruction and in connecting a fragmented
network of reuse organizations across the US.
Deconstruction has enormous equity and social justice
benefits for the local community around a project,
primarily because six times more jobs are created through
deconstruction than demolition. The benefits can
The Furniture Trust works with businesses to
coordinate furniture removal and donation to other
local nonprofits, effectively keeping used furniture
out of landfills and supporting communities at the
same time.
be maximized by working with impact driven
organizations, a few of which are listed below, in
one form or another.
At a national scale, Build Reuse is a non-profit that
encourages the recovery, reuse, and recycling of
building materials, accelerating adoption of circulareconomy principles within the built environment
and providing a member directory of reuse
professionals across the country.
• Second Chance provides job training and
workforce development for those with various
employment obstacles in the Baltimore region.
• Better Futures Minnesota work with previously
incarcerated men who want to make a better
life for themselves, their family and community.
• YouthBuild Boston provides underserved young
people with the support and credentials needed
to successfully enter the construction and
design industry.
• Roca works with young adults who have
experienced extensive trauma and are the
primary victims or drivers of urban violence.
Roca supported the clean-out process of Elias
Brookings School.
Six times more jobs are created
through deconstruction
than demolition.
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