To see a complete photo archive of the VELCO deconstruction job, click here.

In July 2009, The ReBUILD Deconstruction team dismantled a house and garage owned by Burlington’s International Airport. The houses served as a field office for Vermont Electric Power Company (VELCO).  

As part of work necessary to construct the East Avenue Loop Project to ensure electric system reliability, VELCO hired ReBUILD to dismantle the existing house and garage, leaving only the driveway and a concrete pad.
 
VELCO chose deconstruction over traditional demolition as a cost-effective means to help reduce the company’s carbon footprint and provide a benefit to the community. “As part of our commitment to reduce waste and provide community leadership, VELCO reached out to ReBUILD for ideas on how to creatively “unbuild” this building.  ReBUILD salvaged a great deal of what would otherwise have been sent to the local landfill, making the building materials available to the community at reduced prices,” said Carl Holzschuh, spokesperson for VELCO. “Deconstruction is a more environmentally conscious and charitable approach to traditional demolition,” added Holzschuh.

According to the Waste Management Division of the Vermont Department of Conservation, waste from new construction, renovation, and demolition projects generates over 20 percent of Vermont’s trash each year. That adds up to 90,000 tons of construction and demolition waste (C&D) which ends up in Vermont landfills.

An average home (approximately 2,000 square feet), when demolished, can produce about 10,000 cubic feet of landfill debris. ReBUILD’s deconstruction crew is equipped to recover, and thus divert, approximately 60- to 90-percent of building waste from Vermont landfills. And the types of materials being recycled include both the obvious and the unexpected: tile, hardwood flooring, molding, doors, windows, cabinets, plywood, lumber, plumbing fixtures, bricks, cinder blocks, and more. All of these materials are directed to ReBUILD’s Building Material Center, located at 339 Pine Street in Burlington, where they are sold to homeowners and contractors to support the organization and its mission.

Recycled (and reusable) items retrieved from the VELCO job include lumber, vinyl siding, plumbing fixtures, light fixtures, in-wall fans, air-conditioner, piping, insulation, windows, doors, and scrap metal.

To see a complete photo archive of the VELCO deconstruction job, click here.
 

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