The city of Seattle may revise its building permit process to encourage old buildings to be deconstructed and salvaged instead of demolished and thrown away.

A member of the Department of Planning and Development, Sandra Mallory, says a revised permit would give contractors more time to salvage building materials for reuse.

Currently builders in Seattle are issued a demolition and new building permit at the same time. The proposed revision would allow builders to get a deconstruction permit within a few days without having to wait for the building permit to be issued.

The department plans to ask the mayor and city council by the end of the month to give a head start to deconstruction.