Inside the massive demolition of the former Saint-Gobain campus in Worcester

WORCESTER, Mass — Roughly six months into a massive demolition project spanning half of Saint-Gobain’s Worcester campus, the Worcester Business Development Corporation (WBDC) is reporting that 8.6 million pounds of debris has now been removed.

What You Need To Know

• The Worcester Business Development Corporation is making progress on its demolition of a large portion of the former Saint-Gobain campus

• As of Tuesday, 8.6 million pounds of debris had been removed

• Crews expect to recycle over 90% of construction materials

• To minimize impacts on the nearby neighborhood, debris has been hauled out on trains instead of trucks

Crews expect to recycle over 90% of products from the demolition, and WBDC’s president, Craig Blais, said getting to this point has taken a lot of careful planning.

“This is a 50-acre reclamation project that involves complicated demolition, environmental cleanup and a tremendous amount of coordination to figure out infrastructure,” Blais said. “You are seeing a lot of work that is the culmination of a lot of work that has been done to [prepare] these buildings for the actual demolition.”

Behind the gates of the demolition site, the sheer scope of the project is overwhelming.

Heaps of concrete, splintered wood, scrap metal, machinery and partially leveled buildings occupy an area roughly the size of 38 football fields.

Despite the massive quantity of debris and scrap metal, the demolition crew has managed to minimize traffic impacts on the surrounding neighborhood by bringing an old railway back online to use trains instead of trucks.

“Hundreds and hundreds of trucks would be traversing the streets on a regular basis during the entire construction demolition phase of this project, so the neighborhood is extremely happy that we're being able to utilize the rail,” Blais said.

The scope of the first two phases of this project includes the demolition of 33 buildings equating to roughly 675,000 square feet. So far, 17 buildings have been leveled, with four more partially demolished. The WBDC said this equates to roughly 71% of the total project.

The buildings and campus are steeped in Worcester’s history, with roots dating back to 1885 when the Norton Emery Wheel Company purchased a plot of farmland and began steadily growing its manufacturing empire. Norton was acquired by Saint-Gobain in 1990.

Blais said that in the campus’ prime, roughly 8,000 employees worked there, but it’s now time for the site to serve a new purpose and live up to its potential.

“This is the place that housed all of the jobs for the region, and our goal is to return this in a modern way, to return the workforce to this area,” Blais said.

The demolition is part of the broader Greendale Revitalization Initiative, which seeks to improve the neighborhood by revitalizing existing properties, modernizing infrastructure and improving residents’ quality of life.

“It is difficult at times if you look back at the history and you want to make it what it was, but it's extremely important that we have the vision to go forward and to respond to the capital market as to what industry is requiring, and in some cases demanding, now,” Blais said.

So, once the demolition is fully complete, there’s hope new investors could come in to help create more jobs in the region.

“You want to plan for that properly, and have the site ready so that those type of investment opportunities, when they come up, we can actually make those a reality here in the city,” Blais said.