Turning Vacant Schools into Building Circularity Centers

One of the highlights from the recent Build Reuse conference was a presentation from fellow New Yorkers Andrew Roblee and Gretchen Worth, exploring the potential vacant school buildings have to take on new life as building material reuse centers.

Gretchen Worth, Project Manager at the Susan Christopherson Center for Community Planning, and Andrew Roblee, President of Roblee Historic Preservation and Board President of the Preservation Association of Central New York, presented their research project that has identified suitable vacant public schools across New York State that could be transformed into sites where building materials can be sorted, stored and repurposed for reuse. Both Gretchen and Andrew are active members (and founding partners) of CR0WD, the Circularity, Reuse, and Zero Waste Development network based out of Ithaca. CR0WD is a collaborative of planners, architects, preservationists, policymakers, salvage and reuse professionals, real estate specialists, academics, and students from around New York State focused on creating healthier communities through more sustainable treatment of our built environment. Having facilities that are equipped to process, store, and sell salvaged building materials is integral to a circular economy — one where buildings that cannot be saved are deconstructed instead of being demolished, and the raw materials that make up those lost buildings can have second (or third!) lives instead of adding to the landfill.

In their research, they focused on vacant school buildings for several key reasons. One is that school buildings are uniquely suited to this particular adaptive reuse, often including features that a building material reuse center would require — specifically, loading bays, large square footage, large acreage, parking, and industrial-grade design and construction. The accessibility of data is another, with the New York State Education Department making publicly available information about vacant schools through the state (their research identified about 170). School buildings also tend to be places that have deep meaning for the communities in which they are located. Giving them a new purpose would alleviate a sense of loss by creating a sense of community within that space.

This presentation was given on February 14, 2024 at the Deconstruction + Reuse Conference in Savannah, Georgia.