Stephanie Phillips

In her role as Senior Specialist with the City of San Antonio Office of Historic Preservation, Stephanie Phillips serves as the project manager for the City’s ongoing deconstruction and salvage policy initiative, the nation’s first major deconstruction ordinance effort driven through a heritage conservation lens. She strongly believes that preservationists can be leaders in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry’s transition to a more circular building ethic – one that prioritizes repair, restoration, and reuse of both buildings and building materials over their landfilling. The fellowship will support the launch of the Circular Heritage Project, which seeks to strengthen the alignment between the heritage conservation field and the growing circular economy movement in North America.

Stephanie will combine her experience with that of her mentor, Susan Ross, an Associate Professor at Carleton University in Ottawa with professional and research expertise in heritage values and waste. Stephanie’s goal is to equip preservation professionals with the resources to incorporate circular economy principles into their own work and to expedite policy changes that result in the recapture and reuse of more historic building materials. The project will also amplify the critical importance of including cultural heritage sectors in circular economy policy and program development, including deconstruction policies and ordinances, green building rating systems, code updates, and climate action planning. Visit the project website at www.circularheritageproject.com.