Here in the City of Pittsburgh, there are over 1,700 buildings that are currently condemned as uninhabitable. As we look to address these buildings and return them to assets within our community, deconstruction provides a sustainable alternative approach to the current demolition process.
The current process of demolishing buildings mechanically is both expensive and environmentally harmful. Since 2015, the City of Pittsburgh has spent over $12 million in demolishing structures and issued private demolition permits valued at over $24 million. Construction & Demolition waste from standard demolition practices generates at twice the rate of municipal waste in the waste stream, accounting for nearly 62% of waste in landfills nationwide. This waste not only includes material that can be reused or recycled, such as bricks, lumber, shingles, and tile, but often includes hazardous materials that are not disposed of properly.
Deconstruction, a systematic process of disassembling whole or parts of a structure to recover maximum economic and public good through reuse and recycling, provides an alternative to standard demolition practices. Deconstruction not only addresses the issue of uninhabitable structures in our neighborhoods, but does so in a way that reduces waste, improves public health outcomes, and provides economic benefit to our communities. On April 20, 2021, Mayor William Peduto issued an Executive Order for the City of Pittsburgh to develop a unified City-led deconstruction policy and establish a City-led pilot program utilizing deconstruction methods on City-owned condemned properties. This effort will move forward through a robust community-informed process and represents an opportunity to create family-sustaining jobs, foster the expansion of a circular economy, advance an equitable investment in improving quality of life in low-income communities, and divert reusable materials from languishing in the landfill for generations.
City of Pittsburgh Deconstruction Principles:
- Develop deconstruction feasibility assessment, waste management plan & report templates for use in City contracts and projects
- Explore existing government roles and regulations
- Create a Deconstruction Pilot Program for Pittsburgh
- Oversee new deconstruction initiatives
- Nominate City-owned properties for deconstruction test pilot (using property records and Deconstruction Feasibility Assessments)
- Spread the word to neighbors, Permits, Licenses, & Inspections customers, and the general public
- Trust the experts in setting deconstruction policies (convene a Deconstruction Action Council)
- Raise funds for pilot, trainings, outreach, oversight, and more
- Use salvage and deconstruction to preserve neighborhood character
- Connect improved public health and wellbeing to using deconstruction instead of demolition
- Time end use vacant lot with community needs and productive neighborhood functions
- Incentivize participation in building trades, deconstruction certification, and city contracts
- Open policy parameters to use deconstruction to take down privately-owned, dead-end abandoned homes
- Numerate, analyze, and publicize success and explore further considerations
On April 20, 2021, Mayor Peduto issued an Executive Order committed to a unified, City-led Deconstruction Policy at Construction Junction.
This map shows roughly 340 City-owned condemned properties, as well as their proximity to the Avenues of Hope historically Black and diverse business districts, to help visualize where deconstruction policies can help improve the quality of life of our neighborhoods. As we move towards a City-led deconstruction pilot program, we hope to determine properties to address through a holistic and community-informed process that considers, among other things, CDBG eligibility, neighborhood plans, historic legacies of redlining, and environmental justice
City of Pittsburgh public servants
Sarah Kinter, Robert Columbus, Neil Grbach - Department of Permits, Licenses & Inspections
Valerie Monaco, Eric Miazga, Jesse Wood, Andrew Hayhurst, Smyth Welton, Matt Jacob, Dolly Bellhouse, Wendy Urbanic - Department of Innovation & Performance
Brandon Jones – Department of Finance
Shelly Danko + Day, Phillip Wu – Department of City Planning
Kinsey Casey, Dan Gilman – Office of the Mayor
Majestic Lane, Lindsay Powell – Office of Equity
Chris Hornstein – Department of Public Works
Pam Vogel - Human Resources & Civil Service
City of Pittsburgh research interns
John Garrow, Maureen Hartwell, Rebecca Glickman, Brennan Coleman – Office of the Mayor
Anais Peterson – Office of Councilman Bruce Kraus
Big and humble thanks for generosity with time, expertise, and resources to
Mike Gable, Terry Wiles, Melissa Mongelli, Alexis Miller – Construction Junction
Joe Connell – Build Reuse
Michelle Fanzo, George Rieke, Greg LaForest – AIA Pittsburgh
Stephanie Phillips, Corey Edwards – Office of Historic Preservation | San Antonio, TX
Brad Badelt – Sustainability Planning, Urban Design & Sustainability | City of Vancouver
Nathan Torgelson – Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections | Seattle, WA
Shawn Wood – City of Portland Construction Waste Specialist | Portland, Oregon
Timonie Hood – Environmental Protection Agency
Jeaneen Zappa, Talor Musil, Michelle Naccarati-Chapkis – Lead Safe Allegheny Coalition,
Rebuilding Together Pittsburgh, Women for a Healthy Environment
Shannon Sandberg - Allegheny County Health Department Air Quality Program
Lori Horowitz, Brian Kelly - Allegheny County Housing & Community Environment Program
An Lewis, Natalie Boydston, Emily Woodard - Tri COG Land Bank
Masoud Sayles – Grounded Strategies
Stacy Albin & Sarah Shea - Pennsylvania Resources Council
Aaron Lauer – University of Pittsburgh, Institute of Politics
Meade Johnson, Matthew Kankowitz, Kendelle Conrad, Taylor Sadwick, Lauren Bichsel, Jessica Wolff, Cecilia Lebus, Devon Else, Cassandra Horn, Lauren Bauer, Matthew Reyes, Rebecca Chen, Tess Roth, Nicholas Grimes, Evan Larimer, Jake Dunleavy, Lysia Gehris - University of Pittsburgh Spring 2021 Projects in Marketing Class
Hillary & Barley Merenstein
Michael, Daniel, Jeremy Carberry
Alexander Stypula
Thomas Guentner - Landforce: land stewardship +workforce development
City of Pittsburgh Deconstruction Working Group:
Alicia Carberry, Hersh Merenstein, Ernest Rajakone, Upasna Goswami – Office of the Mayor
Eric Williams - Office of Community Affairs
Calli Baker – Department of Public Works, Facilities
Meg Yarish – Department of Public Works, Operations
Tim Dolan – Urban Redevelopment Authority
Rebecca Kiernan – Department of City Planning, Sustainability & Resilience Division
Mark Mariani – Department of Permits, Licenses & Inspections
Jennifer Olzinger, CPPB - Office of Management & Budget
Jess Rohe-Cook – Department of Innovation & Performance, 311
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