“Demolition should be the last option, not the first,” says Glyn Lewis, the CEO of Renewal Development.
His company specializes in repurposing, redesigning, and relocating existing small, low-storey structures as an alternative to the construction industry’s conventional practice of demolishing such buildings when redevelopment occurs.
Both Lewis and Erick Serpas Ventura, the CEO of VEMA Deconstruction, are calling on the City of Vancouver to adopt policies that reduce the amount of demolition waste and encourage recycling as part of the forthcoming amendments to the regulations of the Broadway Plan.
According to them, there are approximately 1,170 single-family houses within the Broadway Plan area that could potentially be demolished for redevelopment, based on the area plan’s prescriptions that enable for increased density and height and other uses for the lots.
For example, the average 1,500 sq ft wood-framed house that is demolished creates 100 tons of wood, concrete, and other waste for local landfills.
They estimate 70% of the houses slated for demolition could be deconstructed, and 20% slated for demolition could be relocated and repurposed as affordable housing.
Existing low-density/single-family areas of the Broadway Plan. (City of Vancouver)
“On a per capita basis, Metro Vancouver is one of the demolition capitals of North America. This is wasteful and unsustainable,” said Ventura, who notes that about one-third of Metro Vancouver’s landfills are full of construction and demolition waste.
Lewis added, “The incredible volume of residential demolition happening in Vancouver and across the region is wasteful from an economic perspective, an environmental perspective and an affordable housing perspective.”
To steer more of these houses into being recycled, both companies are urging the municipal government to create a new bylaw that requires demolition permit applicants to submit a $19,500 deposit, which would be refundable after the permit holder proves it diverted at least 40 kg of wood per above-ground square metre. This is based on a similar policy adopted by the City of Victoria.
Additionally, they suggest municipal governments should require all houses slated for demolition to be assessed for relocation and deconstruction at the permit application stage.
In 2023, Lewis’ project of relocating and repurposing the 1912-built Little Yellow School House from the redevelopment of Henry Hudson Elementary School in Kitsilano attracted significant public attention.
The process of removing the schoolhouse involved detaching the structure from the foundations and slowly moving the structure overnight on a trailer down Cornwall Avenue to reach Kitsilano Beach, where it was loaded onto a barge. Its new permanent location is on the Capilano reserve of the Squamish Nation on the North Shore, where it now serves as a learning centre for young Squamish children to learn their own language and culture.
Claire Fenton/Daily Hive
Claire Fenton/Daily Hive