How Detroit Taught Itself to Demolish Vacant Houses Safely


To develop new demolition standards, the Detroit Building Authority brought together a best practices working group that met biweekly. Under the new system, a pre-demolition review takes place to, among other things, plan out what will be recycled or salvaged. When an excavator claws through a building, a water truck or fire hose has to be dousing the structure to inhibit the reach of particulate matter—limiting the environmental and health impacts.

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