Jimmy Pattison’s former home ‘deconstructed’ in unique sustainable way

"It is old Douglas Fir. We don't have forests anymore that that lumber comes from. It's much more solid than the material we're using nowadays. It's much more dense."

Billionaire business tycoon Jimmy Pattison’s former home is being dismantled in a uniquely sustainable way.

The municipality of West Vancouver acquired the property last year in a land swap, converting waterfront properties on Argyle Avenue into park space.

All the material from this home can be upcycled, repurposed and brought back into the economy.

VEMA Construction is behind the environmentally-responsible demolition project and said homes like Pattison’s are loaded with valuable materials.

Erick Serpas Ventura, the owner of VEMA Deconstruction said his company is “bringing in sustainable demolition, which is the exact same thing as demolition. We’re just swapping out, demolishing the house to deconstruct the house.”

Pattison lived in the home in the 1950s when he worked at a car dealership.

“What we’re doing with the home is we’re deconstructing it in panels, taking those panels off the house,” Ventura told Global News.

“Those panels will go on a flat deck, and that flat deck will then take the whole house away to a processing site, where we then separate all the material and separate all the great lumber that’s in there and to create a product.”