A Sustainable Departure for a Shorewood Gas Station

Posted: June 29, 2009

For the first time in the Village of Shorewood, the removal of a building will involve the environmentally sound practice of deconstruction of the former Matt Rech service station. “In this case since the project involves removal of a service station on the corner of Oakland and Kensington and as we are working with developers to find greener ways to redevelop the village,” explains Village Manager Chris Swartz, “we felt it was a good idea to use this process.”

 

The developer of the project hired Environmental Services Division of The Sigma Group, a Milwaukee-based engineering firm, to handle the removal of the gas station.

 

Deconstruction differs from demolition as the process involves dismantling the building in basically the opposite process as it was constructed so metals, asphalt, concrete and masonry can be recovered and reprocessed as raw materials. It is estimated that over 90% of the structure and pavements will be recycled through the deconstruction process.

 

In the process, Sigma will recover for recycling the metal used in the building, including plumbing and wiring; the asphalt pavement; and the concrete pavement and foundations to be crushed for granular fill in other projects.

 

For more information, contact Chris Swartz, Shorewood Village Manager at 414-847-2701.