Another Step Towards Sustainability: Deconstruction Through Google’s Eyes

Google has long been committed to environmental sustainability. By far, it has concentrated on and decreased the data center carbon emissions goals, as well as investing in technologies to assist its business partners and people around the world in making sustainable decisions. One project the organization is working on includes investing in manufacturing zones in order to enable the production of 24/7 carbon-free electricity. This, according to Pichai, will assist 500 cities. 

Google is a growing firm with a real estate footprint that spans more than 150 cities around the world from our headquarters. Google’s Real Estate and Workplace Services (REWS) division is essential in the company’s transition to a circular economy. 

Since 2012, the REWS team has been performing deconstruction and salvage for their tenant interior construction, repurposing over 1,000 tonnes of materials. In addition, Google has a program in place to assist in the refurbishment and reuse of as much furniture as feasible. 

Google believes that putting knowledge in the hands of everyone, organizing the world’s information, and making it universally accessible has a revolutionizing effect. Google is committed to doing it in a way that benefits both people and the environment. They believe that the first step toward a cleaner, healthier future is to make little daily decisions. 

That’s why Google takes into account sustainability in everything they do, making efficient use of the planet’s resources and designing goods that benefit both people and the environment. Google’s strategy begins with a clear goal: to speed up the transition to a circular economy. A circular economy refers to an economic approach to running businesses that will benefit the economy, society, and the environment. This is where deconstruction comes into play. 

What is Deconstruction?

Deconstruction is the process of tearing down a building from the inside out. Internal doors and wood components, for example, are maintained as much as deemed appropriate and conserved for reuse, resulting in a more circular system. Non-recyclable materials’ recyclability is also improved through deconstruction. Deconstruction is one of many instruments that will be necessary to promote and facilitate the transition to a circular economy.  

Deconstruction appears to be a crucial solution for unlocking prospects for recovering valuable materials from structures. Deconstruction as an approach for attaining reuse will result in a slew of environmental, social, and economic advantages.

Google’s Deconstruction Strategy

Every year, around 70-75% of furniture seized from renovation projects is rescued from landfills thanks to the efforts of Google’s warehouse staff. For most of its existence, Google has operated by expanding existing ‘shells’ (buildings) as teams outgrew their former locations, but now it takes on a new approach. 

In these old revamped buildings, interior rooms are remodeled to be as “Googley” as possible, although the existing structure’s capabilities, notably in terms of illumination and building systems, are sometimes severely limited. In recent years of sustained growth, Google has begun to develop its own buildings from the ground up, while also utilizing old structures when possible.

The fixable components, such as stackable doors, provide the most reusability. It’s also critical to managing logistics around material transportation to ensure that truckloads are as efficient as possible, saving money and lowering the carbon footprint born out of transportation.

As Google seeks to scale deconstruction across its real estate portfolio, sharing learning with the rest of the industry allows everyone to assess and address the difficulties and possibilities that lie ahead.

Google’s Future with Deconstruction 

There is the opportunity to think large of what can be done with the current building stock, and to reframe the thinking to see old structures as incredible resources rather than trash. Google encourages us to think more resourcefully and sustainably and ask ourselves how an old residential building can be recreated as office space while maintaining the circular material flow.  

As Google has started working on new development projects, the way of thinking has been modified. Google recovered 35 tonnes of material from their Sunnyvale site, to be known as Caribbean office, California, to gift to California charities and nonprofits and also uses approximately 30 different types of recycled materials in the Charleston East construction project in Mountain View, California.

Deconstruction for reuse is a circular economy technique that provides us with a formerly unexplored potential to reclaim the value in the built environment. Deconstruction and reuse can help minimize the need for raw materials and the emissions associated with their extraction by extending the life of materials. These measures can also assist mitigate the negative effects of climate change, pollution, resource depletion, and ecosystem deterioration. Deconstruction results in social and economic benefits such as employment creation and market support. Google believes that this is an ongoing process and that if all like-minded firms join them in this effort, we will be able to achieve the idea of sustainability.