Demolition is bad for preserving heritage and the environment

Old buildings and neighborhoods are demolished too often and too quickly to make way for new construction. It causes loss of cultural heritage and places an unnecessarily heavy burden on the environment. The Portuguese Ana Pereira Roders writes this in her dissertation that she will defend on Tuesday at the Technical University of Eindhoven.

Roders states that a large part of the Dutch waste mountain consists of construction and demolition material that is often still suitable for reuse.

In the Netherlands it does not take much effort to demolish old buildings, but she believes architects should think more carefully about renovation or repurposing. That will be a long-term process, the researcher fears. "A large part of an architect's status depends on the successes in new construction. Also in renovation, the new additions seem to be the most important."