Hennepin County Encourages Deconstructing, Not Demolishing Through Grants

Hennepin County is encouraging homeowners and developers to deconstruct buildings instead of demolishing them with the goal of reducing waste.

“In a demolition project, the entire building is demolished and wrecked,” said Olivia Cashman, construction and waste specialist with Hennepin County. “Whereas in a deconstruction project, the building is taken a part and it’s typically by hand so that process typically takes a lot more labor and time.”

County officials say deconstruction costs twice as much as demolition. To offset the time and labor cost, each project can receive up to $5,000. So far, about five cities including Brooklyn Center are eligible for the grant.

“The eligibility for our grants, it has to be properties built 1950 or prior,” said Cashman. “So we’re looking for kind of a certain age that has these high valuable materials. But if you want to do salvaged work apart from our grant, I mean any materials as long as its accepted at salvage business could be potentially salvaged and used.”

Cashman says typically up to 85 percent of materials can be salvaged including things like lumber, doors and cabinets.

Hennepin County has a total of about $100,000 in deconstruction grants available for this year.

Brooklyn Center