In our last Spotlight event of the year, MECLA brought together experts from various sectors to discuss regenerative materials. As government, industry and society at large move towards a low-carbon world, what does this mean for the next wave of materials in our built environments? What is on the horizon for materials?
The MECLA Spotlight on Regenerative Materials features speakers from government and industry exploring how different existing materials can adapt, what emerging biophilic and regenerative materials are entering the market, and the role government can play in accelerating R&D and commercialisation. This event was hosted by MECLA Chair Hudson Worsley.
Speakers:
- Sonia Auld – Group Director Technical Services at School Infrastructure NSW
- Tina Fox – Senior Associate/Interior Design at Scott Carver
- Isabella Peppard Clark – Architect at DesignInc Melbourne
- Amanda Sturgeon – Built by Nature CEO
- Jennifer Snyders – CEO at House of Bamboo
- Canhui Chen – Lecturer at University of Swinburne
Key Takeaways:
- NSW Department of Education’s ambition is to optimise the value derived from the $17.7b invested in public education infrastructure. They support over 800,000 students and 120,000 employees across 2200+ schools. The Department has a focus on sustainability to demonstrate leadership, support staff and students and evolve their own practices.
- The Department of Education has a survey currently out and are looking for feedback from industry on how to help accelerate the development and delivery of innovative materials.
- The Materials Working Group from Architects Declare assist designers to make more sustainable decisions, knowledge sharing, resource sharing, and are advocating for clear guidance and principles to industry.
- Built for Nature believes there is insufficient demand for regenerative and bio-based materials, a need for implementation, experience and advocacy, changes to codes and policies that prevent innovative materials being used in the market. Stakeholders also often lack incentives to use regenerative materials and instead turn to steel and cement; materials that industry is currently optimised for.
- At this stage, insurance won’t provide insurance for mass timber buildings, which poses a large obstacle for the uptake of timber as a building material.
- As a construction material, bamboo is harvested within 5-7 years, and can replace a variety of emission intensive materials. It stores 4 times more carbon dioxide than trees and produces 35% more oxygen. It also has phytoremediating qualities, which enable it to leech contaminants out of soil and it can decrease soil erosion and prevent desertification.
- Bamboo isn’t a specified material in Australia for a number of reasons. There is persistent misinformation, or lack of information, which leads to regulations and standards that force the product to adhere to timber standards despite bamboo being classified as a grass. On top of this, education mostly still focuses on recognised materials.
- Currently, there is no established bamboo industry in Australia, no recognition of bamboo as a building material, no plantation despite us having 1.7 million km2 of suitable land, and no government program to grow bamboo or develop the industry.
- Mycelium can be made through upcycling waste such as sawdust, coffee grounds, and other plant based products.
- The mycelium creates a structure by digesting the material it starts in and releases enzymes into the plant cells, binding everything together. This process, under the right growing conditions, can take roughly a week. Testing has been done for sound insulation and researchers are exploring its possibilities for thermal insulation.
If you missed the session you can read a summary below:
Sonia Auld
Sonia Auld, Group Director Technical Services NSW Department of Education was first to speak, and she took the opportunity to share the Department’s work in relation to material innovation. NSW Department of Education’s ambition is to optimise the value derived from the $17.7b invested in public education infrastructure. They support over 800,000 students and 120,000 employees across 2200+ schools. The Department has a focus on sustainability to demonstrate leadership, support staff and students, and evolve their own practices.
Sonia discussed the importance of delivering modern methods of construction, enabling rapid delivery of high quality efficient and sustainable education infrastructure. When it comes to material innovation, they want to evolve their approach to equip the next generation of Australians for the future, provide a return on community investment in education, facilitate a stronger market for regenerative materials and integrate the latest digital technology.
The Department of Education has a survey currently out where they are looking to get feedback from industry on how they can help accelerate the development and delivery of innovative materials.
Tina Fox and Isabella Peppard Clark
Tina Fox, Senior Associate at Scott Carver and Isabella Peppard Clark, Architect at DesignInc Melbourne, spoke on behalf of Architects Declare. Architects Declare is a volunteer-based non-for-profit organisation that runs five working groups.
Tina and Isabella are members of the Materials Working group. The Materials Working Group make it easy for designers to make better more sustainable decisions, knowledge sharing, resource sharing, advocating for clear guidance and principles to industry. Key goals include database creation so they can choose better materials, a supplier questionnaire, they’ve also been making a design process guidebook and a materials selection guidebook. The working group is involved in external engagement with GBCA BPIRating, Future Materials, Global Greentag and MECLA.
Amanda Sturgeon
Amanda Sturgeon, CEO of Built for Nature, spoke about how you might be able to accelerate the use of regenerative materials, taking a market focused approach. Built for Nature is a philanthropic fund and non for profit that supports bio-based materials in the market. They are based in Amsterdam, a city leading in bio-based materials having implemented a 20% requirement for biobased materials in all new social housing developments.
Amanda asks a challenging question to start her presentation: there are fantastic initiatives in decarbonising the existing dominant materials but is it going to be too slow for the climate emergency? We could avoid more than 100 billion tons of CO2 emissions until 2100 if we made our houses out of timber instead of steel and concrete.
Built for Nature believes that there is insufficient demand for regenerative and bio-based materials, a need for implementation, experience and advocacy, changes to codes and policies that prevent innovative materials being used in the market, and stakeholders often lack the incentives to use regenerative materials and turn to steel and cement instead, materials that industry is currently optimised for.
Over 2022 Built for Nature funded 2 million Euros of projects and has committed another 2.5 million Euros next year. They fund, enable, and amplify solutions back to the market. Their target is on the ‘big six’; developers, investors, designers, asset owners, insurers, and cities. Insurance is a big barrier because you cannot insure mass timber buildings. They want to share narratives around timber, educate on circular, drive policies and standards for sustainable timber buildings, and develop construction stored carbon credits.
Jennifer Snyders
Jennifer Snyders, CEO of House of Bamboo, educated attendees on the versatility of bamboo and the barriers to use. For construction materials bamboo is harvested within 5-7 years, compared to pine or oak that take 30 and 60 years to grow too a similar height. Bamboo can replace a variety of emission intensive materials, it stores 4 times more carbon dioxide than trees and produces 35% more oxygen. It also has phytoremediating qualities, which enable it to leech contaminants out of soil and it can decrease soil erosion and prevent desertification.
When you harvest bamboo you cut 25% of culms, and leave 75% of the forest intact, cutting off the plant at one of the rings. Bamboo then regenerates itself, and doesn’t require pesticides or fertilisers. Bamboo has a lot of applications as bio energy, bio gas, pellets suitable for chickens and other livestock, and can be used as a fuel resource because of its extremely high lignin content.
Laminated and engineered bamboo is created by stripping the skin off the stalks, then crystalising sugar on it which helps with mold and prevents insect infestation. There is also strand woven bamboo, which is shredded into bands and put a resin through it which creates a very dense material. Bamboo can be used as structural beams, in detailing, or as flooring. It has a multitude of applications, and House of Bamboo is working toward a bio-based glue for the material.
Bamboo isn’t a specified material in Australia for a few reasons. There is lots of misinformation, regulations and standards that force the product to adhere to timber standards despite it being a grass, education focuses on recognised materials as they can afford the advertising, sponsorship and research. Accreditation makes it cost prohibitive. And there is a lack of collaboration, for which Snyders calls for a united cooperation for industry to cross over and realise an end goal of supplying materials and delivering emission reductions because the planet cannot provide us with enough timber if we are going to meet our sustainability and emissions goals.
Currently, there is no bamboo industry in Australia, no recognition of bamboo as a building material, no plantation despite us having 1.7 million km2 of suitable land, and no government program to grow bamboo or develop industry.
But despite this, Jennifer assured that change is possible. Australia has the climate, the suitable land, and five different native and 200 bamboos already growing in the country.
Canhui Chen
Canhui Chen, Lecturer at Swinburne University, was the final speaker of the day. He introduced the audience to mycelium. Mycelium is the root system of the mushroom, the fungal system. Mycelium is everywhere in our natural world under the ground. The mushroom body only comes out when the weather and temperature are right, but the mycelium is always there. And it already exists in swaths, cultivated in the mushroom industry. Mycelium can be made through upcycling waste such as sawdust, coffee grounds, and other plant based products. This makes it a very effective way of upcycling the waste from other industries. The mycelium creates a structure by digesting the material it starts in and releases enzymes into the plant cells, binding everything together. This process, under the right growing conditions, can take roughly a week.
In his research at Swinburne University Canhui has focused on designing processes to growing composite mycelium in specific forms. Canhui has tested the fungal root system as an acoustic panel and found that it can perform against current existing products in market. There are also potential applications for it in insulation. They have used it in many projects to demonstrate potential use cases. He has used it to provide wet plant pods for grasses in the Royal Botanical Gardens, created lamp shades and Christmas trees, and much more.