CityPlace Burlington
Sustainable demolition
Precise, responsible and safe.
Demolition began in September 2017, and was completed August 2018. Jackson Demolition was contracted due to their reputation for safe and environmentally-friendly demolition. Having the right equipment, expertise and experience was essential for the precision needed on such a large, complex project—to safely take down structures that are within 6″ of adjoining buildings. The result was a controlled disassembly of several extremely robust public buildings in just 11 months. Their well-organized, systematic and precise work created a safe and clean working environment.
The first phase of demolition involved the former retail locations inside the former Burlington Town Center. In addition to the deconstruction, sorting and recycling of materials, re-use was part of the protocol. Hundreds of rigid insulation panels from the roof were given to local builders, and retail shelving, safes, display cases, plate glass, appliances, tables, furniture, woodwork and lights went to many local businesses for re-use. When exterior demolition began in December, it became apparent this would be a very orderly, considerate process: materials were sorted into piles for re-use or recycling; bent and twisted steel i-beams torn from the structures were carefully straightened by the expert excavator operators to assure the most efficient fit into the waiting trucks; rebar was separated from concrete; and the order of deconstruction was coordinated with construction crews to assure their easy access to the site.
Truckloads of material were taken from the site daily to recycling centers—steel i-beams, concrete, wiring, metal flashing, commercial steel studs, plumbing pipes, conduits and rebar. Other materials like wood, brick, glass, cinder blocks and mechanicals were also recycled. In total 98.6% of the demolition materials were recycled, which exceeds LEED® Gold certification requirements.
There are 3 major environmental benefits from this process: 1. Using recycled materials reduces the stress on the environment and pollution of sourcing new raw materials for manufacturing. It takes less energy to prepare recycled materials for new use vs. the smelting, refining etc. needed to create new steel from iron ore, for example; 2. Hundreds of tons of materials that were recycled or re-used did not end up in a landfill or incinerator, reducing greenhouse gases and air pollution; 3. The quality of our downtown environment was actually improved by removing hazardous materials found on site. One of these, asbestos, was diagnosed immediately by the professionals at Jackson, contained, abated and removed professionally by NRC, a nationwide expert in hazardous waste removal.
Demolition is by nature a messy business. However, from the minute the first claw hit the first facade, until the last multi-ton footings were unearthed and broken down, we were all very impressed by Jackson’s precise, methodical and safe process. They took down large and complex structures in a very efficient, relatively clean and orderly manner, and left a clean, stable environment for building CityPlace Burlington.
