Break it Down
Whether you’re dismantling existing play equipment, or an entire school building is being demolished, it’s a great idea to figure out how to repurpose materials and equipment. This will help to save money and keep the project on budget, as well as to help reduce the environmental footprint of the project. Depending upon the scope of the project, you may want to consider pursuing deconstruction rather than demolition.
Here are some great examples of how to repurpose:
- Use bricks from a historic school building to construct new walls, or as legacy bricks
- Use rubble from a demolished school structure as fill to create mounds or regrade areas of the school grounds
- Use rubble to fill gabions, which can be used as retaining walls, seating, and more
- Set aside any equipment that is relatively new and reinstall it in the new play areas
- Save any boulders that are revealed during the excavation process and use them in the new design
- Save any trees that are being cut down, and repurpose them as stump steppers, log benches, and more
Repurposed boulders are moved into place at General Brock Elementary School (Image: Skala Designs Inc.)