Demolition of government buildings in Assen precision work through ‘harvesting’ for reuse

For the Bork Group from Stuifzand, demolishing buildings is no longer a job of just hitting the wrecking ball hard, bulldozing everything and removing the whole thing. They are increasingly being asked to take apart buildings with extreme precision. And that even involves a screwdriver and drill. The demolition crew’s mission is to harvest everything that is of value. With the aim of reusing as much material as possible.

For example, the demolition company is currently taking apart the government buildings in Assen aan de Mandemaat piece by piece. You can’t name it that crazy, or it will be taken out separately. Carpet tiles, doors, window frames, chipboard, roof gravel, bricks, concrete and rebar, the men harvest all these materials separately and all the stuff is stored separately in bins or bags.

“We have removed all the roof gravel from the buildings and it is stored here in enormous white bags. This will soon be added to the new complex that the Central Government Real Estate Agency is having built here,” says Koen Rooseboom of Bork. In total, the demolition workers scoured 15,000 square meters of floor space in the office complex, looking for everything that was suitable for reuse or recycling. For example, removed window frames are stacked in piles, waiting for a second life. “They will soon be processed in such a way that they can be returned to the new building.”

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