A Climate Resilient Community In Newburyport Rises From Toxic Ashes

Passive house buildings at the Hillside Center for Sustainable Living in Newburyport, Mass. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)

Just off Route 1 in Newburyport, a bit of the future is under construction. A huge orange crane hoists a three-story concrete slab and flips it precisely in place, forming the wall of a home. The crane accomplished in five days what would have taken weeks using standard building techniques.

“The construction system has not been done before in this scale for residential,” says Boston developer David Hall, who with his partner, architect Keith Moskow, modified the commercial building method known as “tilt-up construction” to create the Hillside Center for Sustainable Living. They’re building the village on a remediated brownfield, after removing 3,000 tons of toxic ash.

“There were places where it was 8 feet deep,” Hall says with a laugh. “It was a dump.”

Read the rest of the story at WBUR’s website.