With 9,000 structures needing demolition, Houston could become demolition central…BUT
As we all know, there’s a huge difference between “in need of demolition” and “being demolished”. Budgets have to be approved, tenders submitted and agreed, environmental studies need to be conducted, planning permission needs to be obtained. And heaven forbid that a bat, vole, snake or rare insect is found while these processes are progressing at roughly the speed of wind erosion.
However, even with all that taken into consideration, Houston’s demolition contractors must surely be rubbing their hands together at the prospect ofa glut of work following research by the Houston Chronicle that has highlighted some 9,000 structures that are in need of or are overdue for demolition.
But before the collective Houston demolition contractors place an order for a new Ferrari or even think about clearing some of the debts they’ve accumulated over the past 18 months, city officials say they lack enough inspectors to address all the decrepit structures and the demolition approval process is lengthy.
So close, and yet so far!
