Sankey diagram illustrating the material mass flow of the Erin House project, totaling 495 metric tonnes.
 

Rural House Deconstruction (Circular Opportunity Innovation Launchpad)


Client
Circular Opportunity Innovation Launchpad (COIL), City of Guelph
Project Type 
Pre-deconstruction Audit, Material Reuse Audit & LCA
We collaborated with Ouroboros Deconstruction and Haley Anderson Consulting on a case study to document the benefits, viability, and scalability of deconstruction and material reuse in Southern Ontario. The case study involved the dismantling of a 9,850 square foot wood-frame house, the processing and resale of materials, and accompanying life cycle assessment specifically focused on carbon impacts. While the superstructure was taken down, the project team convinced the owner to maintain the existing concrete foundations for use in the future design, leading to significant carbon savings. All other recovered material was either processed and stored for eventual reuse, or recycled, with only a small proportion landfilled. The project team engaged with makers across Southern Ontario, who used the reclaimed material in various pieces of furniture.

Outside of the scope of work with the City of Guelph, the project culminated in an exhibition at DesignTO in January 2024, featuring process photography, data analysis graphics, and the final furniture pieces, with the goal of showcasing the monetary, carbon, and cultural value of the house’s material components.




Key Success Factors
  • CRD waste reduction, including 90%+ diversion rate.
  • Maintenance of 308 metric tonnes of concrete foundations and slab on grade, equivalent to 110 tonnes CO2e of avoided emissions.
  • 41 metric tonnes of salvaged material, including 40,000 linear board feet of lumber and 44 large Douglas fir beams, all equivalent to 31 tonnes of CO2e of avoided emissions, with an additional 54 metric tonnes of biogenic carbon stored in these materials.
  • Study findings reported internally to inform circularity policy of the City of Guelph.
  • Exhibition won the DesignTO Founders’ Award.


Key Lessons
  • Present gaps and challenges in the market, including:
    • Lack of education around circular construction practices like adaptive reuse and deconstruction and material reuse
    • Issue of storage/warehousing of reclaimed materials
    • Understanding pricing mechanisms to make deconstruction and use of reclaimed material competitive with the conventional alternatives
  • Clear opportunity for massive carbon savings when scaling impacts across city or region.
Sankey diagram illustrating the material mass flow of the Erin House project, totaling 495 metric tonnes.
Toronto / Montréal / London
info@halfclimatedesign.com