City officials have received a report from Quantum Environmental and Engineering Services (QE2) and NEO Corp., both contractors involved in the Lakeshore Park abatement and demolition projects, showing that 83 percent of the materials removed during the project were either recycled or reused.

“It was the City’s priority to reuse and recycle existing materials at Lakeshore when we began this project,” said Christi Branscom, Deputy to the Mayor and Chief Operating Officer for the City. “We couldn’t be more pleased with the results of this concerted effort and what it means for our community.”

The City’s Engineering Department oversaw the Lakeshore Park abatement and demolition project and all contracted parties involved. QE2 served as the professional consultant on the project, with the responsibilities of identifying hazardous materials, developing the plans and specifications for removal of the buildings, and acting as quality control over NEO Corp., which implemented the actual demolition and abatement. Both contractors were asked to track waste streams and recycled materials throughout the project.

Of the 48,115 tons removed, 40,102 tons were recycled or reused. For example, bricks and concrete were crushed and used as trench backfill or base stone for road paving.

The project included the demolition and removal of 20 buildings on the remaining 23 acres of Lakeshore property that the State of Tennessee signed over to the City of Knoxville in May 2013. The buildings removed were nine large, multi-story buildings and 11 small cottages.

Some of the larger buildings that were removed had housed a medical facility, rooms for patients, a laundry service, and a boiler house. Officials say the boiler house was the most challenging to salvage for reusable materials because of conduits and plumbing interlaced through the structure, which included a smoke stack. 

Managers of the project identified other ways in which to reduce waste. For example, NEO Corp. salvaged equipment such as boilers and generators from some of the buildings for the City to reuse or store as backups for antiquated systems. Additionally, the City, QE2 and NEO collaborated to recover 9,000 gallons of liquid propane that had been abandoned in an on-site above-ground tank by disconnecting it and repurposing it to heat City-owned warehouse and office space.

“What we are left with are major cost savings, a sense of good stewardship in that we were able to repurpose 83 percent of our materials removed, and an addition of nice open space that offers a clean slate for further park development,” Branscom said. “The icing on the cake is that we were able to preserve the most historical building on site, honoring the legacy of Lakeshore.”

City of Knoxville Parks and Recreation staff is slated to move into the renovated Lakeshore administration building in several months, and development continues to move forward, following the Lakeshore Park Master Plan.

All combined, the City has so far invested more than $6.8 million on infrastructure, demolition and other improvements to transition toward the new Lakeshore Park. A $50 million private fundraising campaign is underway that will implement an ambitious park master plan over the next two decades.

For more information about upcoming Lakeshore Park improvements, or to pledge a gift to the fundraising campaign, please visit www.LakeshoreParkKnoxville.org or call 865-801-1000.