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The problem of stolen manhole covers in Turkey might seem like an unlikely starting point for a new way for buildings to withstand earthquakes and address the construction industry’s environmental problems, but when a Turkish businessman learned of a new material that prevented theft, an idea occurred to him. .
Cast iron is traditionally used to make manhole covers that protect drainage systems. But in 2010, after a series of thefts of scrap metal covers in Türkiye, it was necessary to use an alternative with an equally resistant material to secure them. And when Engin Yesil read about this super-strong compound in the news, he wondered if it could be used to construct buildings that would be able to withstand earthquakes. A significant risk in Türkiye..
Yesil began manufacturing the composite, known as Renco (short for “renewable composite”), which consists of up to 40% reused materials, including resin and fiberglass. Since 2011, more than 200 buildings have been built in Türkiye using Renco blocks, which fit together like Lego bricks and are fixed with glue.
Yesil wondered if Renco had potential in the US, and after more than a decade of research and testing, Renco was used to build an apartment complex in Palm Springs in 2023.
In addition to being able to withstand catastrophic Category 5 hurricanes (the highest rating in the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale and A growing phenomenon due to climate change.), Renco claims to be more environmentally friendly than other building materials. The construction sector is “by far” the largest emitter of greenhouse gases of all sectors, according to a 2023 UN reportrepresenting 37% of global emissions.
Renco, or renewable composite, is a Lego-style building system that is rated to withstand a Category 5 hurricane.
Renzo
Renco weighs about 80% less than concrete, meaning it can be transported more by truck, and also has 82% less embodied carbon than structural steel, according to a report from the Athena Sustainable Materials Institute commissioned by Renco. Embodied carbon refers to emissions released during the manufacturing, transportation and disposal of building materials.
Renco is also 100% recyclable, according to Patrick Murphy, CEO of Renco USA. He said the new composite marks a radical change in construction materials. “In construction, there are basically three ways to build, right? You have concrete, steel and wood, and that’s basically been the same for 100 years… so this is really the fourth way to build that’s been approved.” , he told CNBC via video call.
This year, Renco will begin manufacturing in the United States for the first time, and in the coming weeks a factory will open in Florida that can produce enough building blocks for about 9,000 mid-sized apartments.
As with other materials used in construction, Renco is not without environmental impact, with blocks currently being shipped from Turkey to the US while the Florida factory is completed. And, although Renco’s Turkish manufacturing plant is powered by renewable energy, about 12% of the electricity generated in Florida comes from nuclear power plants.
Sustainable wood
Renco is not the only company that aspires to build more sustainably. On the other side of the Atlantic, a British company designs buildings using a well-known material: wood. Architecture firm Waugh Thistleton designed its first building made from cross-laminated timber, or CLT, in 2001 and has since built around 30 in the UK, Europe and the US. Use products certified by the Forestry Stewardship Council, or equivalent, that is, wood. It has to come from forests managed in a way that meets a set of internationally agreed standards.
Building with wood instead of steel or concrete could achieve a 19% reduction in emissions, study says by 2024 University of Arkansas studywhile a UN Report 2023 urged the construction industry to switch to bio-based building materials, such as sustainably sourced wood and bricks, to decarbonise the built environment.
The Black & White building in the Hackney area of London is the tallest solid timber office building in the city, at six floors. Designed by architect Waugh Thistleton, the embodied carbon is a third less than that of similar buildings.
FORUMS | Waugh Thistleton
“The idea that we can build from renewable materials has become increasingly important to us,” said Andrew Waugh, founder and director of Waugh Thistleton. “And then the more you do it, the more you realize that it has benefits for health and well-being, that people are actually much happier and healthier surrounded by natural materials than they are surrounded by Styrofoam ceilings and… drywall (wall panels),” Waugh told CNBC over video call.
But the UK has been slow to adopt wood as a building material, something that Waugh finds “frustrating”. Around 60% of waste produced in the UK comes from the construction industry, according to a 2022 government reportwhile Waugh points out that Construction with wood produces little waste. Once again, building with wood is not without environmental concerns: the wood used in Waugh Thistleton projects is often transported from Europe.
Building on water
Another phenomenon caused by climate change is rising ocean levels – compounded by land subsidence at the same time.
In the independent coastal state of Monaco, known as a playground for the rich because of its low taxes, a newly built “eco-neighborhood” known as Mareterra has put sustainability at its center. “With climate change, building on water will become a strategic approach for certain coastal areas,” according to Guy-Thomas Levy Soussan, CEO of Mareterra development, in an email to CNBC. The project is intended to be a “model” for how coastal cities can grow responsibly, Levy Soussan added.
The new Mareterra development in Monaco extends the independent state to the Mediterranean. An underwater structure known as a “cassion” was built as a flood barrier and to encourage the flourishing of marine life.
Xavier Duvot | AFP | fake images
During construction, a technique known as the “caisson” method was used, whereby 27-meter-high reinforced concrete structures were built in the French city of Marseille and floated to Monaco so as not to disturb marine life. In addition to acting as flood barriers, they are habitats for marine organisms, Levy Soussan said.
The so-called “ecological reef villages” were also built. Composed of more than 300 modules, they were installed in the marine area where the development is located. Ecological “corridors” allow fish to reach villages, while a protected species of seagrass known as posidonia was relocated to provide an ecosystem. These ecological measures will be monitored for at least a decade and the Monaco government will use its knowledge to guide future maritime projects, said Levy Soussan.
The future of sustainable construction
Both Waugh and Murphy hope the construction industry will move toward more sustainable materials.
“It’s inevitable because, you know, the better other industries get at reducing their carbon load, the more exposed construction will be as an outlier,” Waugh said.
Regulation can be the force the construction industry needs to become more sustainable, the Waugh Thistleton founder added.
He UK Green Building Council has called on the British government to go further in its environmental targets for new homes, while in Singapore, for example, the government added proposals to its mandatory energy upgrade regime to include older buildings. Previously it had focused on new buildings or those undergoing renovations.
Murphy said the industry “will have to” reduce its emissions. “The industry has gone under the radar in a lot of ways, hasn’t it? People talk about airplanes and cars and cows, you know, lots of other… emissions. A lot of people don’t realize how bad cement is and how bad as cement is. The built environment is.”
Embodied carbon has been a focus of attention for US Environmental Protection Agency and construction company Skanska USA developed a tool, known as EC3, to help construction projects quantify their emissions.
Dalston Works, a residential building in east London, was designed by Waugh Thistleton. Its core and external walls, floors and stairs are made of cross-laminated timber and the building is clad in Victorian-style bricks. Using wood helps reduce a building’s carbon footprint.
Daniel shears | Waugh Thistleton
Steve Clem, senior vice president of project planning and sustainability at Skanska USA Building, said the tool has encouraged some suppliers to reduce embodied carbon.
When Skanska was evaluating concrete companies for a large project in Seattle, it showed each company how their materials performed relative to each other in terms of embodied carbon, using EC3. “When different suppliers saw how their blends compared to each other, they voluntarily took steps to improve them at no cost to the consumer,” Clem told CNBC via email.
The vice president is positive about the future. “The construction industry is doing more for sustainability now than at any other time in history, or at least since the industrial revolution… My hope for the future is that sustainable construction will be the norm and that many more people have the opportunity to live, work and play in carbon-free buildings,” said Clem.
