Tag: Construction

Sustainability-In-Tech : ‘Superwood’ : Stronger Than Steel

Posted on by Paul Stradling

A new sustainable building material that’s stronger than steel and made from ordinary timber is about to go into mass production, and it could change the face of construction forever.

From The Lab to the Launch of ‘Superwood’

In 2018, materials scientist Liangbing Hu and his team at the University of Maryland developed a method to convert ordinary wood into a material significantly stronger and lighter than steel. The innovation, initially viewed as a promising (but laboratory-bound) breakthrough, involved finding a new way to densify wood to enhance its strength and durability through a chemical and compression process. It seems that only now, after seven years, 140 patents, and millions in investment later, Superwood is actually heading to market.

InventWood

The startup behind the commercial rollout, InventWood, is gearing up to begin production this summer 2025 (summer 2025 is as accurate a launch date as InventWood has given) at its first dedicated facility. Backed by $15 million in Series A funding from climate-focused investors including the Grantham Foundation and Builders Vision, the company believes Superwood could soon replace a substantial chunk of the steel used in buildings, and significantly reduce the environmental cost of construction in the process.

How is Superwood Made?

Superwood is essentially regular wood that has undergone a chemical and physical treatment to alter its structure at the molecular level, thereby significantly increasing its strength and durability.

The process starts with regular timber, which is mostly composed of the two key compounds of cellulose and lignin. Cellulose is the strong, fibrous material that gives plant cells their rigidity, while lignin acts as a kind of natural glue. Ironically, it’s the removal of lignin that unlocks the strength hidden inside the wood.

The process to strengthen the wood and turn it into ‘Superwood’ includes:

– Boiling and bonding. The wood is first boiled in a solution of sodium hydroxide and sodium sulfite – a process not unlike that used in paper production. This removes most of the lignin and hemicellulose, while keeping the cellulose intact.

– Compression and heating. Next, the softened wood is compressed and gently heated, causing the cell walls to collapse. This triggers hydrogen bonding between adjacent cellulose fibres, vastly increasing the wood’s strength.

– Stabilisation. For external use, some samples are impregnated with polymers, improving resistance to moisture and environmental wear.

The Result

The result of this transformative process is to create material with up to 20 times the strength of natural wood, and a strength-to-weight ratio up to 10 times greater than steel! Also, according to InventWood, it’s also highly fire-resistant (Class A fire rating), pest- and rot-resistant and, unlike most tropical hardwoods, naturally beautiful, thanks to a deep, rich colour created during the compression process. As InventWood’s CEO Alex Lau says: “It looks like walnut or ipe, but we haven’t stained any of it,” and that “These are the natural colours. It’s just wood, re-engineered.”

Steel-Level Performance Without the Carbon

The potential sustainability benefits of Superwood are huge. For example, globally, the production of steel accounts for about 7–9 per cent of direct emissions from fossil fuels, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). Also, concrete and steel together make up around 90 per cent of the carbon footprint of new buildings. This means that being able to replace even a fraction of that with a renewable, carbon-sequestering material like Superwood could be a game-changer.

On a like-for-like performance basis, Superwood generates 90 per cent lower emissions than steel and, because it locks carbon into the material itself, every Superwood beam or panel becomes a kind of mini carbon store.

The material can also be made from underutilised or waste wood, adding another layer of circularity and environmental value.

What Can It Be Used For?

At launch, InventWood is targeting facade and cladding applications for commercial and high-end residential buildings. These “skin” uses are designed to be ideal early-stage deployments, giving architects and developers a chance to work with the material in lower-stress contexts while the production process is scaled up.

However, it seems that the real ambition lies deeper in the building. For example, as Lau says, “Eventually we want to get to the bones of the building”, including structural beams, columns, and even I-beams being made entirely from Superwood. The strength, light weight, and stability of Superwood means it could be used not just in walls and roofing, but in entire load-bearing structures.

Beyond construction, other possible applications could include:

– Furniture. Stronger, lighter, and more durable wooden furniture with high aesthetic value.

– Vehicles. Potential use in interior vehicle panels or lightweight frames.

– Protective Gear. Early tests showed Superwood could stop bullet-like projectiles, leading to speculation it might be used in low-cost body armour or impact-resistant products.

– Consumer Goods. From tools to sports equipment, the applications could span industries.

Mouldable Into Different Shapes

One other big practical and aesthetic advantage is that, because it’s mouldable during the early stages of production, the wood can be shaped and formed into complex designs before hardening, thereby opening up design possibilities beyond what’s possible with standard timber.

Scaling Up

With its first production plant due to go live this summer, InventWood is keen to prove it can scale efficiently. The initial batches will be smaller and aimed at showcasing Superwood’s performance and aesthetics in real-world projects.

Over time, the plan appears to be to mass-produce structural timber products using waste or fast-growing softwoods, such as pine or poplar, woods that are cheap and abundant but typically too weak for major construction use.

By applying the Superwood process, these everyday species could be upgraded to high-performance materials without the costs or carbon associated with tropical hardwoods or engineered metal.

Investor Interest

Not surprisingly, the company has already attracted interest from major investors and partners in the climate tech space, and says the long-term goal is to replace up to 80 per cent of the structural steel currently used in building and infrastructure projects.

Hype or Hope?

Despite the excitement, it should be noted that Superwood isn’t without its critics, or its hurdles. For one, the technology is still in its commercial infancy. While lab tests and prototypes are impressive, the construction industry is notoriously conservative when it comes to adopting new materials, especially for structural use. Engineers, insurers and regulators will need to be convinced of its long-term performance under varied conditions, including moisture, temperature change, and mechanical stress.

There’s also the question of cost and scalability. While Lau says the process has been reduced from “more than a week to a few hours,” manufacturing densified wood still requires energy, chemical treatments, and controlled conditions. Whether the environmental benefits are maintained at large scale will depend on the sourcing of those inputs and the overall lifecycle of the material.

Some environmental groups have also raised concerns about supply chain transparency. If demand for Superwood grows rapidly, there will be pressure to ensure that input timber is sustainably and ethically harvested, particularly if production expands beyond waste wood and fast-growing species.

Benefits Outweigh Challenges

However, supporters of the technology argue that the potential benefits outweigh the challenges. For example, investors involved in the funding round have highlighted the urgent need for new, low-carbon materials in response to the climate crisis, and view Superwood as a promising solution that combines high strength, aesthetic appeal, and significantly lower emissions. Some believe it could represent one of the most important material innovations of the decade.

What Does This Mean For Your Organisation?

If Superwood’s apparent potential to dramatically reduce carbon emissions while delivering on performance could make it an attractive alternative to steel and tropical hardwoods, especially at a time when the construction industry is under growing pressure to decarbonise.

For UK businesses, particularly those involved in architecture, building design, and sustainable development, this could open up exciting new opportunities. Superwood’s combination of strength, lightweight handling, and natural beauty offers practical advantages that go beyond green credentials. If adopted at scale, it could help developers meet net-zero targets, reduce material costs, and differentiate projects in a highly competitive market. Manufacturers and timber suppliers may also find new demand for underused or waste wood, potentially driving regional supply chains and creating jobs linked to circular production.

Also, with early use cases already being explored in areas like furniture, transport, and protective materials, Superwood’s commercial reach could extend well beyond construction. For example, as the product matures and real-world performance data emerges, its use may spread into consumer goods, automotive interiors, and even defence applications.

That said, its long-term impact will hinge on more than just innovation. It will depend on how quickly the production process can be scaled, how effectively it’s regulated, and whether sustainability claims can be backed by transparent, verifiable supply chains. For clients, designers, and contractors alike, due diligence will be essential.

Still, in a sector where true breakthroughs are rare and often slow to emerge, Superwood offers something genuinely different, i.e. a material that aligns strength, sustainability, and versatility in a way that could reshape how (and what) we build in the years ahead.

Sustainability-In-Tech : Will Robots Solve The Housing Crisis?

Posted on by Paul Stradling

As Europe faces a worsening housing shortage, a new generation of construction robots is being pitched as a solution, but how realistic is the idea, and what does it mean for sustainability, workers, and the industry as a whole?

Rethinking the Way We Build

Housing shortages aren’t new, but in parts of Europe (including the UK) they’ve now reached critical levels. Spiralling costs, strict planning rules, and a growing mismatch between supply and demand have pushed home ownership further out of reach for many. At the same time, the construction sector is facing a crunch of its own.

While other industries have embraced automation and innovation, it seems that construction has remained largely unchanged. For example, today’s building sites largely feature bricks, mortar, manual labour, just as they would decades ago (although there are modern hoists and plant machinery). Arguably, the result is that building is still relatively slow, and is suffering from higher costs and dwindling productivity.

One telling statistic is that, although since 1945 productivity in manufacturing has increased more than eightfold, in construction, it’s only risen by just 10 per cent, and in some cases, has actually gone backwards. For example, building a single-family home now takes longer and costs more than it did 50 years ago, even after adjusting for size. Labour shortages are also compounding the issue. In the UK, the number of bricklayers recently hit a 25-year low, with a third expected to retire within the next decade.

This stagnation is feeding into the wider housing crisis. The shortage of skilled workers delays projects and drives up costs. Meanwhile, urban populations continue to grow, and government targets, such as the UK’s pledge to build 300,000 new homes a year, are consistently missed.

It seems, therefore, that the response by some technologists to propose a different approach may be welcome at this point, i.e. rather than simply trying to build more with the tools that have always been used, suggesting that a total rethink on building is needed.

Robot Builders?

The newest suggestion by some scientists is that autonomous robots, guided by AI and precision software, could take on repetitive and labour-intensive tasks, e.g. laying bricks, moving materials, and even assembling entire walls.

The idea is that robots could help us build faster, more affordably, and with less waste. This is a vision that blends technological ambition with an urgent social need, but the real question is whether this kind of innovation can change things for the better, or whether it’s another idea that will get stuck at the planning stage.

Bricklaying

Amsterdam-based startup Monumental is among those exploring whether robotics could reshape construction. The company has developed a suite of autonomous, electric robots designed to handle one of the most repetitive and labour-intensive tasks on site, i.e. bricklaying.

The system combines:

– Ground-based electric robots that move materials around a site.

– Small crane-like arms that place bricks and apply mortar.

– Computer vision and sensors to track exact positioning.

– A software platform, called Atrium, that maps the environment and guides the robots with millimetre precision.

Each robot is connected to a central coordination system that plans movements, detects site changes, and ensures accuracy in real time. Before building starts, a full 3D scan of the site is taken and aligned with digital building plans. From there, the robots get to work, layer by layer and brick by brick.

Work Alongside Human Builders

It should be noted here that the system is actually designed to work alongside human builders rather than to replace them. For example, labourers still prepare the site, oversee quality, and step in where needed. Monumental calls its approach “software-defined construction”, aiming for flexibility and integration rather than wholesale automation.

Does It Work?

So far, Monumental reports that the robots have built house façades, retaining walls, and other real-world structures across the Netherlands. For example, in 2023, the system completed its first full-scale 15-metre wall, and the company says performance has improved significantly with each iteration, helped by rapid software and hardware updates based on field testing.

The real aim, according to co-founder Salar al Khafaji, is to lay the groundwork for much broader automation, i.e. rather than just bricks, the robots also being able to work with concrete blocks, window frames, door frames, roofing elements, and more.

For now, Monumental appears to be focusing on reliability and practical deployment. The system is offered as a service where clients simply specify the bricks and mortar, and Monumental delivers the finished wall.

Who Else Is Building With Robots?

Globally, construction robotics is actually gaining momentum. In the US for example, Built Robotics offers autonomous trenching and earthmoving systems for infrastructure projects. ICON, known for its 3D-printed homes, has built houses for disaster relief and was recently awarded a $57 million NASA contract to develop construction tech for the Moon.

In Japan, the Shimizu Corporation is experimenting with robots that can handle everything from interior finishing to welding. Closer to home, the UK’s Construction Innovation Hub is exploring off-site manufacturing techniques that integrate robotics for modular building components.

Each approach varies, but the end goal is to make construction faster, more precise, and less dependent on scarce labour.

What It Could Mean for Sustainability

As well as being slow and expensive, traditional construction methods are also environmentally costly. According to the Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction, construction and building operations are responsible for nearly 40 per cent of annual global carbon emissions!

Robotic construction could offer several environmental benefits, such as:

– Electric robots like Monumental’s generate zero on-site emissions and reduce noise pollution.

– Precision placement, which can reduce material waste and rework.

– Faster builds, thereby lowering the overall energy footprint of each project.

By reducing reliance on diesel-powered machinery and minimising disruption, robotic systems could also be better suited to urban infill projects, where sustainability and community impact are closely scrutinised.

That said, the broader carbon impact also depends on material choices, energy sources, and supply chain factors, which robots alone can’t fix.

How Ready Is the Technology?

Despite the progress, fully autonomous building sites remain a long way off. Most current systems (including Monumental’s) focus on specific, repetitive tasks such as bricklaying or trench digging. Complex structural work, finishing, and systems integration still require human expertise.

Performance metrics are still emerging, but Monumental’s field projects suggest the technology is edging closer to commercial viability. The company claims its robots can build continuously, avoid common errors, and scale up with multiple units on one site.

Crucially, it has opted to work within existing construction norms, using conventional bricks, mortar, and pricing structures. This has helped reduce resistance among cautious builders, though long-term data on cost savings and productivity is still limited.

Implications for the Industry and Workforce

With labour shortages biting across Europe (19 countries were reporting a bricklayer shortage in 2022), automation may fill some urgent gaps. In the UK, where one-third of bricklayers are due to retire in the next decade, demand is unlikely to ease.

However, using robots raises familiar questions around job displacement. Even if robots assist rather than replace workers, fewer may be needed on site. That could reshape the training landscape, shift demand towards tech-savvy roles, and put pressure on traditional trades.

For construction firms, although automation could help meet delivery targets, especially for large-scale housing projects, costs, reliability, and integration still weigh heavily. Monumental’s “robot-as-a-service” model, which avoids capital investment and ties pricing to output, is one attempt to lower that barrier. Whether others will follow remains to be seen.

Governments, Policy, and the Housing Crisis

In places like Monumental’s home country, the Netherlands, where the government has committed to building one million homes by 2030, robotic construction may offer a helpful lever, but not a panacea.

In the UK, housing policy remains politically fraught, and delivery targets have repeatedly been missed. If robotic systems can offer faster build times, safer sites, and lower carbon footprints, they could become part of the toolkit for councils and developers alike.

Still, regulation, standards, and public trust are likely to play a major role. Construction robots may be technically impressive, but mass adoption will depend on how convincingly they can be integrated into real, everyday projects.

What Does This Mean For Your Organisation?

It seems there’s no single fix for Europe’s housing crisis, but the slow pace and inefficiency of traditional construction methods have clearly become part of the problem. As this article has highlighted, robotic systems like Monumental’s offer one possible route towards building more homes, more quickly, and with fewer emissions. What’s striking is not just the innovation itself, but the way it’s being packaged, i.e. pragmatic, incremental, and designed to slot into existing workflows rather than disrupt them completely.

In the UK, developers under pressure to meet housing targets may find robotic services attractive, particularly for repetitive or labour-intensive parts of the build. Construction firms willing to engage with these tools early on could gain a competitive edge, especially as skilled labour becomes harder to find. Also, tech providers, equipment suppliers, and training organisations may see growing demand for systems integration, on-site support, and workforce upskilling.

That said, the adoption curve is unlikely to be smooth. Much depends on how well these technologies perform under real-world pressures, how quickly costs come down, and whether builders, regulators and insurers are willing to adapt. Jobs will change (i.e. some may go, others will evolve) and this raises big questions for education, employment policy, and worker protections.

For policymakers and local authorities, there will need to be a balance between embracing robotic construction to help unlock stalled housing developments and support sustainability goals, and rethinking procurement, planning frameworks, and public trust in new technologies. If done carefully, it could support a more resilient and forward-looking housing system. If rushed or poorly managed, it may risk further complicating an already difficult landscape.

What’s clear is that the conversation has moved on from theoretical hype to practical possibility where, although robots aren’t going to replace the construction industry, they may quietly start rebuilding how it works.

Sustainability-in-Tech : 3D Printed Glass Blocks For Constructing Buildings

Posted on by Paul Stradling

Engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are developing a new kind of reconfigurable masonry made from 3D-printed, recycled glass.

Fits Together Like LEGO 

MIT says the new multilayered glass bricks, each in the shape of a figure-of-eight, are designed to interlock, much like LEGO bricks.

3D Printed 

One of the big advantages of the new glass bricks is that they are made using a custom 3D glass printing technology (provided by MIT spinoff Evenline). The inspiration for using glass and the brick’s shape came partly from when 2 of the engineers, Kaitlyn Becker, and Michael Stern, were still undergraduates and learned the art and science of blowing glass in MIT’s Glass Lab.

It was this experience that led Stern to design a 3D printer capable of printing molten recycled glass.

Tested 

Becker and Stern collaborated to test whether 3D-printed glass could function as structural masonry units comparable to traditional bricks. Using the latest version of Evenline’s Glass 3D Printer (G3DP3), which melts recycled glass bottles into a printable form, they produced prototype bricks from soda-lime glass. The figure-eight design bricks featured two round pegs, similar to LEGO studs, allowing them to interlock and form larger structures. A removable material between bricks prevented scratches, enabling easy dismantling and recycling.

Strong 

The MIT team tested the glass bricks’ strength using an industrial hydraulic press and found that the strongest bricks could withstand pressures similar to concrete blocks. These bricks were primarily made of printed glass, with a separately manufactured interlocking feature, suggesting that most of the brick can be printed from glass, while the interlocking part can be made from various materials.

The Advantages 

The many advantages of the 3D-printed glass brick system include:

– Sustainability. The bricks are made from recycled glass, supporting circular construction by reusing materials and reducing the need for new manufacturing, which lowers the construction industry’s embodied carbon.

– Reusability. The bricks can be disassembled and reassembled multiple times for different structures, extending their lifespan across generations of buildings.

– Recyclability. Glass is highly recyclable. For example, the glass used by MIT’s 3D printer comes primarily from recycled glass bottles in the first place which are crushed, melted in a furnace, and then transformed into a molten, printable material used in the 3D glass printer. Also, once the glass bricks have been made, they can be remelted again and reshaped without contamination, allowing bricks to be recycled into new forms. As Kaitlyn Becker, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at MIT says: “We’re taking glass and turning it into masonry that, at the end of a structure’s life, can be disassembled and reassembled into a new structure, or can be stuck back into the printer and turned into a completely different shape. All this builds into our idea of a sustainable, circular building material.” Becker also highlights how, “As long as it’s not contaminated, you can recycle glass almost infinitely”.

– Strength. As highlighted in MIT’s mechanical tests, the glass bricks can withstand pressures similar to concrete, making them viable for structural use.

– Their interlocking design. Like LEGO, the bricks feature interlocking pegs, enabling easy assembly, and creating strong, self-supporting structures.

– Scratch and crack prevention. A removable material between bricks prevents damage during assembly and dismantling.

– Adaptability. The figure-of-eight design allows for curved wall constructions and offers flexibility in design. This allows for more creative and varied structural forms, making it possible to create aesthetically unique and functional buildings that traditional brick designs may not easily support.

– The potential for scalability. The system can be scaled up to create larger structures, with potential for various configurations and reconfigurations. As Stern says: “We have more understanding of what the material’s limits are, and how to scale,” and that “We’re thinking of stepping stones to buildings, and want to start with something like a pavilion – a temporary structure that humans can interact with, and that you could then reconfigure into a second design.” 

– The environmental benefit of minimising the manufacturing of new materials and reducing the construction industry’s “embodied carbon”, i.e. the greenhouse gas emissions associated with every process throughout a building’s construction, from manufacturing to demolition.

Drawbacks? 

Although the system is still at the development stage and the engineers have been keen to highlight the advantages of the system, it is possible to think of some of the more obvious potential disadvantages, such as:

– Producing glass bricks using 3D printing requires specialised equipment and processes, which might be more expensive and complex than traditional brickmaking.

– Glass typically has poor insulating properties, so structures made from glass bricks may not retain heat as effectively as those built with traditional materials.

– The need for a separate interlocking feature made from a different material could complicate the production and assembly process, reducing the system’s simplicity and uniformity.

– Widespread use of glass bricks might face resistance due to unfamiliarity or scepticism about their long-term durability and safety in construction. Also, the unusual shape and the fact that it’s a new material may require training, e.g. for builders.

Glass Already Being Used To Make Bricks 

Although the 3D printer idea for full glass bricks is new, it’s worth noting here that recycled glass is already being experimented with in similar ways for use in construction projects. For example, researchers at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore have developed a concrete mix using recycled glass as a substitute for sand, which is increasingly scarce due to overuse. This glass-based concrete has been successfully used in 3D printing to create a 40 cm-tall concrete bench, demonstrating its viability for load-bearing construction applications.

What Does This Mean For Your Organisation? 

The development of 3D-printed glass bricks at MIT presents a promising and bold vision for sustainable construction, combining innovation in design and environmental responsibility. By reimagining glass as a structural material and leveraging 3D printing technology, these interlocking bricks could offer a versatile solution that embraces circular construction principles. As the building industry seeks to reduce its environmental impact, these bricks present a potential alternative by utilising recycled glass, minimising waste, and allowing structures to be easily reconfigured and recycled at the end of their lifespan.

While challenges remain, such as higher production costs and concerns about insulation and durability, the adaptability and recyclability of the glass bricks highlight their potential.  As with any new material and system though, acceptance and implementation are likely to take time, something that we’re running out of when it comes to decarbonising industries.

However, looking on the bright side, the demonstrated strength of the bricks, combined with their aesthetic and sustainable benefits, points towards a future where glass could play a significant role in eco-friendly construction. The success of this system could even pave the way for further exploration of recycled materials in 3D printing, and with continued innovation, it’s possible to see how these glass bricks and/or concrete using crushed up glass instead of sand, could become a cornerstone in the move towards more sustainable building practices.