Breaking Barriers Through Deconstruction (Breaking Barriers), a new workforce development program, recently graduated its first group of participants at the Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design. Funded by a grant from the Environmental Protection Agency and organized by Lifecycle Building Center (LBC) and ReBuildATL– a coalition of Atlanta-based non-profits, local organizations and businesses – Breaking Barriers offers disadvantaged residents training in sustainable building methods, which gives them a significant advantage when seeking employment in the construction and deconstruction industries.
As part of the 20-day program, participants disassembled a 100-year-old barn on the site of the new Roswell Community Masjid (RCM) facility. Skanska is supporting RCM’s efforts to design and construct its new building to meet the Living Building Challenge standard, and materials salvaged from the barn will be repurposed in the new RCM structure. The training cohort also deconstructed a stage in a historic theater owned by Grove Park Foundation (GPF), with these deconstructed materials to be reused in GPF’s affordable housing projects.
Leaders from Skanska provided OSHA safety training and LBC’s partner Re:Purpose Savannah oversaw the hands-on deconstruction portion of the training. GPRO certification, residential energy efficiency training, financial management education, construction plan review instruction and much more were provided by many partners, including 2M Design Consultants, Center for Sustainable Communities, Veterans Molding Minds and JE Dunn Construction.
“At a time when workforce development is paramount to sustaining our industry and community, Breaking Barriers providesan underserved population in Atlanta with a myriad of opportunities and the technical skills necessary to focus on reusing, and in many cases, preserving building materials as we continue to build for a better society together,” said Jimmy Mitchell,…
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