Building Circularity MN is a Hennepin County-led collaboration focused on helping Minnesota designers and building owners increase circularity and reduce waste on construction and renovation projects.
The collaboration offers both project-level technical help and an entrepreneur training program. The two-year initiative is funded by a grant from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency with the goal of growing Minnesota’s reuse economy.
Project-level technical help
Free technical help is available to property owners, architects, developers, and design teams to support the specification and implementation of reused materials on commercial building projects.
To request help, contact olivia.cashman@hennepin.us.
Design help services available at no cost to project teams
- Technical help for design teams to include reused materials in architectural projects.
- Individualized coaching of project teams using the Project Manager’s Guide to Material Reuse in Commercial Buildings (PDF).
- Draft specification language or review of specification language.
- Connections to reclaimed material suppliers.
Material reuse help available at no cost to property owners
- Facilitations of discussions on building material reuse.
- Collaboration to understand opportunities and barriers to reuse.
- Tailored education on reuse strategies to specific project teams.
Eligible projects
Both new construction and renovation projects are eligible. Projects must follow the International Building Code (IBC).
For Minnesota B3 projects, guidance and technical help is available to specify reused materials to meet the following B3 guidelines:
- M.1 Life Cycle Assessment
- M.2 Environmentally Preferred Materials
- M.3 Waste Reduction and Managment
Events
- National Build Reuse conference
August 4 - 6 in St. Paul - AIA Minnesota Conference on Architecture
November 3 - 5 in Minneapolis
Resources
Project Manager’s Guide to Material Reuse in Commercial Buildings
The Project Manager’s Guide to Material Reuse in Commercial Buildings (PDF) was developed by the Building Circularity MN project team to help owners, architects, and contractors build with reclaimed materials on a commercial scale.
The guide contains specification language, guidance for procurement, and case studies of successful reuse projects around the country. Template documents are also provided to help address barriers in current construction documents and workflows.
Other Hennepin County grants and business help
- Building deconstruction and material reuse grants
Funding is available for commercial and residential projects that use deconstruction instead of demolition to salvage, reuse, and recycling building materials in the removal, alteration, or renovation of a building. Grants are also available for used building material installation and structural moves of a building. Building deconstruction and material reuse grants.
- Contaminated land cleanup grants
Funding is available for the assessments and cleanup of contaminated sites, or brownfields. Areas of focus can include asbestos and lead-based paint abatement, vapor mitigation, and contaminated soil assessment and cleanup. Environmental Response Fund grants.
- Elevate Hennepin
Elevate Hennepin connects business owners in every stage of development to free customized, professional advisors, services, and resources. These experts, tools, and programs help new and established businesses gain their footing, plan for next steps, and expand upon their success. All for Reuse (ecosystem map).
Why reuse building materials
Commercial building projects generate a lot of construction and demolition waste – over twice the amount of household trash generated in the United States every year. Nearly 75% of landfilled building materials have the potential to be reused.
Diverting this material to reuse in Minnesota could generate millions of dollars in new economic opportunity. It would also cut emissions that contribute to climate change. Reusing materials preserves all of the embodied emissions from the initial energy used to harvest and create those materials and prevents the need for new materials.
Partners
Building Circularity MN is a collaboration of Hennepin County, the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities Center for Sustainable Building Research, MSR Design, and Doors Unhinged.
- Olivia Cashman is a Construction and Demolition Waste Specialist with Hennepin County’s Environment and Energy Department. Olivia works with property owners, contractors, and cities to reduce construction and demolition waste. She serves on the board of directors of Build Reuse, a national organization encouraging the reuse of building materials.
- Simona Fischer is an architect and director of sustainable practice with MSR Design in Minneapolis. She develops sustainable design workflow tools and strategies and co-chairs the Circularity Subgroup of the Minnesota Carbon Leadership Forum.
- Andrew Ellsworth is Founder & CEO of Doors Unhinged, the first US company to reclaim and resell commercial door systems. Andrew is also the co-founder of All For Reuse, and evangelizes about the importance of building material reuse whenever and wherever possible.
- Liz Kutschke is a Research Fellow at the Center for Sustainable Building Research who works on the Minnesota B3 Guidelines.
- Fernanda Acosta is a Zero Waste Specialist with Hennepin County’s Environment and Energy Department. She supports the School Recycling and Construction & Demolition grant programs, working with county schools, residents, and property owners to divert waste from the landfill.
Building Circularity Enterprises MN program
Learn more about training for building material reuse.
