Interreg Sustainable Bio & Waste Resources for Construction

Baker-Brown (PI), Gant and Woodard from the University of Brighton worked with academic partners from UniLaSalle in Rouen, ESITC Caen, and the University of Bath, together with waste management company Veolia, UoB's Community 21, the Alliance for Sustainable Building Product (ASBP), and French construction industry digital platform Construction 21, to develop three separate prototype panels of insulation material suitable for the social housing sector. However, these insulation panels had to be made from waste material.

The source material for each of the prototype panels was sourced from waste flows located near to the  pilot test sites in Rouen, the Brighton Waste House, and Bath. The SB&WRC project aimed to design and develop three prototypes of thermal insulation for buildings, made from bio-based and waste-based raw materials. Three prototypes were produced respectively from agricultural co-products, ie., 'Prototype 1' was developed by UniLaSalle in Rouen utilising waste rapeseed and corn stems with elements from pith. Prototype 2 was developed by the University of Brighton team and consisted of textile waste, namely reused (not recycled as anticipated) waste bedding. 'Prototype 3' was developed by University of Bath and continued their long-established research into the potential of wheat straw to be used as insulation. The Prototype's carbon footprint needed to be at least 25% lower than that of standard insulants (neither bio-based nor waste based) on the market (such as glass wool and rock wool). In doing so, the project proposed new solutions which allow, by exploiting waste and agricultural co-products from the area, both to reduce CO₂ emissions and to preserve natural resources such as construction minerals used in the production of the most widespread insulation such as glass wool and rock wool (global demand for construction minerals tripled between 1980 and 2010 (OECD, Materials resources, Productivity and the Environment, 2015).

By partnering the Alliance for Sustainable Building Products (ASBP) in the UK and  Construction 21 in France, the SB&WRC project was able to significantly raise awareness (amongst French and English construction stakeholders) of the potential and advantages of working with these often overlooked 'waste' materials in order to encourage them to further develop prototypes and commercialise them and accelerate the uptake of these materials. Professionals were invited to a series of events through the life of the SB&WRC project, workshops, site demonstrations, and an online community and online survey.

The originality of the project notably lies in its methodology: designing prototypes based on the existence of common, widely available, and under-exploited waste and agricultural co-products over the area. It involved cross-boarder cooperation as both sides of the channel can make use of these widely available products and it provided access to a range of rare skills and technical equipment to enable the valorisation of waste material flows from the agricultural and textile industries.

The Brighton Waste House (UoB) was utilised as the 'live' testing laboratory for two out of the tree prototype insulation panels, namely the University of Brighton's 'duvet' panel Prototype 2, and the University of Bath's straw panel. Prototype panels installed in the Brighton Waste House were monitored in order to establish their specific thermal performance. These data has been uploaded separately on Baker'Brown's research pages. The project team also utilised testing facilities (climatic chamber etc) at the Building Research Park in Swindon, as well as laboratories at University of Bath, UniLaSalle in Rouen, and ESITC Caen. UoB team, working with the Community 21 digital platform, also produced a GIS map, mapping local material waste flows. 

Prototype 2 - further details. Working with waste management company Veolia and Community 21, the University of Brighton team developed their prototype made from duvets discarded by graduating students. At the time of this project (2017-2019) no duvets in the UK were re-used. Duvets are ready-made insulation quilts and need no re-processing, just cleaning! The prototype was installed into part of the external wall of the multi-award-winning Waste House where it was monitored to understand its thermal performance, ie. how well it insulates. In addition, the UoB team worked with Local Works Studio are create external wall tiles (to protect the duvet insulation from the weather) made from waste oyster shells (from a local restaurants 'Englishes Oyster Bar)) and aggregates from the Preston Barracks construction site opposite the School of Architecture Technology and Engineering. The findings of these experiments have been published on Baker-Brown's research pages. 

The University of Brighton, UniLaSalle in Rouen and the University of Bath were challenged to create insulation suitable for the Social/ Affordable Housing new build sector. Each institution had to reprocess a waste material near to where their respective campus's are located. 'Prototype 1' was developed by UniLaSalle in Rouen utilising waste rapeseed and corn stems with elements from pith. Prototype 2 was developed by the University of Brighton team and consisted of textile waste, namely reused (not recycled as anticipated) waste bedding. 'Prototype 3' was developed by University of Bath and continued their long-established research into the potential of wheat straw to be used as insulation.

Each of the prototype panels was tested for their fire and thermal performance at locations in ESITC Caen, University of Brighton (installed in the Brighton Waste House) and University of Bath.

Prototype 2 (reused bedding/ duvets) developed by the the University of Brighton team has since inspired the manufacture of 'SuperSoft' insulation batts by 'Thermafleece' that was launched in partnership with the ASBP on 01st November 2021. Web link below:

https://asbp.org.uk/epd/supasoft-recycled-pet-microfibre-insulation

In 2018 the UoB team installed Prototype 2 (reused bedding/duvets approx. 900mm (w) x 400mm (d) x 1800mm (h)) in one part of the external wall of the Brighton Waste House. This insulation panel, together with Prototype 3 (University of Beth's Straw panel) were monitored (by UoB's Dr. Ryan Southall) for moisture and temperature variation to enable an understanding to its actual thermal performance ('U-Value'). Findings are published in the attached document produced by Dr. Ryan Southall.

Prototype 2 (reused bedding/ duvets) developed by the University of Brighton team has since inspired the manufacture of 'SuperSoft' insulation batts by 'Thermafleece' that was launched in partnership with the ASBP on 01st November 2021. Web link below:

https://asbp.org.uk/epd/supasoft-recycled-pet-microfibre-insulation


The University of Brighton team working with local SME Local Works Studio developed external wall tiles for the Brighton Waste version of insulation Prototype 2 (reused bedding/ duvets). These tiles were manufactured from waste oyster shells procured from 'English's' Restaurant less than 0.5 mile from the Waste House(they throw away over 50,000 shells annually) and construction waste from the Preston Barracks development. Some of the tiles installed on the outside of the Waste House are made from 100% waste oyster shells, with some of them burnt at 900degs to create 'quick lime', with other oyster shells crushed to provide aggregates to add to the quick lime. Mixed together and placed in a silicone mould for a number of days the end result is beautiful concrete tiles produced in a similar way as traditional 'Roman' concrete.

In 2018 samples of these oyster shell 'concrete' tiles were exhibited in Adelaide South Australia in an exhibition associated with 'Unmaking Waste 2018' conference (Baker-Brown presented a paper and Key Note in person) organised by the University of South Australia in partnership with China-Australia Centre for Sustainable Urban Development. Web link to event is below:

https://wp.architecture.com.au/news-media/unmaking-waste-2018-transforming-design-production-consumption-circular-economy/