BUILDING CIRCULARITY INTO CONSTRUCTION
A Q & A WITH KYLE GILLEN OF TURNER CONSTRUCTION
Rather than sending demolition debris to landfills, project teams are increasingly finding ways to salvage, refurbish, and reuse building materials, extending their life while reducing the demand for new resources. Kyle Gillen, an estimator at Turner Construction and one of the firm ' s subject matter experts on waste and circularity, recently spoke with High-Profile intern Sophia Bacanurschi about how circular construction is changing the way projects are planned, the challenges of material reuse, and why sustainability begins long before demolition is underway.
Sophia Bacanurschi: To start, can you tell me about your role at Turner Construction and what you ' re working on?
Kyle Gillen: I ' ve been with Turner Construction for 10 years. For the first eight years, I worked in the field as a superintendent and project manager. For the past two years, I ' ve been a preconstruction manager, where my focus is getting projects set up before construction begins. That includes estimating, early scheduling, and project planning.
In addition to my day-to-day responsibilities, I ' m one of Turner ' s subject matter experts for waste and circularity. Another employee and I help lead those sustainability efforts, with my primary focus being waste reduction and circular construction practices.
SB: Can you tell me about the sustainability work you’ re doing at Turner and across New England?
KG: Sustainability is something we think about from the very beginning of every project. As soon as we hear about a new opportunity or are awarded a project, our team starts asking how we can improve building performance and reduce emissions during construction.
I’ m part of Turner’ s Special Projects group, which primarily handles renovations of existing buildings rather than new ground-up construction. Since renovation projects involve demolition, they create opportunities to salvage materials instead of sending them to a landfill.
One of the first things we do is document the building using OpenSpace. Once we’ ve created that model, we share it with our network of material take-back partners and recycling organizations. They review the building and identify materials that can be reclaimed, recycled, or reused before demolition begins.
One of our most recent projects is a three-story, 60,000-square-foot office building in New Hampshire that’ s being completely renovated into a state-of-theart pharmaceutical research laboratory.
We’ ve had several successful material recovery efforts on that project. One involves Armstrong’ s ceiling tile takeback program. As long as the tiles meet certain criteria and aren’ t contaminated with hazardous materials, they’ re collected, ground up, and used to manufacture new ceiling tiles.
Salvaged doors were crated and prepared for transport to a salvage company, where they’ ll be refinished for reuse. Photos courtesy of Kyle Gillen
As the construction industry looks for new ways to reduce waste and lower carbon emissions, one concept is gaining momentum: circularity. www. high-profile. com
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