One-stop shops where people can go to find salvaged building materials in the name of circularity are popping up around the U.S. In San Antonio, the Material Innovation Center (MIC) works with contractors, reuse stores, and corporate donors to take in excess woodwork, windows, lumber, siding and other materials after buildings get demolished. This debris gets channeled toward affordable housing, all thanks to MIC. Another outfit, Reuse Innovation Center, is based in Bellingham, Washington, and services the Pacific Northwest. To boost its own circular economy, New York City is following suit. Dave Bennink of the Circular Construction Network and Building Deconstruction Institute shared plans this week to build the New York City Reuse Innovation Center (NYC-RIC), what Bennink says will become a “center of circular construction.” NYC-RIC will be located in Brooklyn, Bennink said, but the group is still looking for space. It will contain a “reusable building material store, a showroom, classroom, and a collaborative maker/remanufacturing space called the CoLab,” he said. Bennink is actively looking for businesses who’d like to move into the space and synergistically work “towards circularity in the built environment.” Growing New York’s Circular Economy The idea came a few years ago when Bennink was recruited by the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) to help incorporate circular principles at the forthcoming Science Park and Research Campus (SPARC), a new education and healthcare hub in Kips Bay, Manhattan, for CUNY—with a masterplan by SOM. After partnering with NYCEDC at SPARC, Bennink saw an opportunity to apply circular principles at myriad other projects all over town, including Stony Brook’s Center of Climate Solutions on Governors Island, also designed by SOM. He now has 16 projects here in New York City. “After I got involved at SPARC, and saw how the city was valuing circular construction, I realized I needed to create a reuse innovation center in the New York City area to help make that possible,” Bennink told AN. “The Reuse Innovation Center will be a circular business cooperative with, say, around 15 and 20 businesses all working together in a synergistic way toward building a circular economy in the built environment,” Bennink added. “So we’ll have businesses that take buildings apartment, and we’ll have businesses that put buildings back together. We’ll have businesses that make products for buildings that are circular in nature, made of reclaimed and recycled content.” Bennink said that he’s now looking for space in Brooklyn to make it all happen. A large floor plate will provide the opportunity to charge affordable rents to businesses looking to get involved. This will save businesses the hassle of renting their own space, and their own equipment. In turn, NYC-RIC will pool together resources and tools, while also placing likeminded business owners in proximity to one another, creating knowledge spillovers. NYCEDC has already taken strides to build cleaner buildings, aside from its work with Bennink at SPARC and on Governors Island. In 2023, NYCEDC launched the “New York City Mass Timber Studio” to encourage wood construction. The program allocates grants to “selected teams to conduct design, technical, and economic feasibility assessments for mass timber.” Moving forward, NYC-RIC is now soliciting businesses to work with. To apply for space in the incubator, applicants can use this Google Form.