Alternatives for an effective transition to sustainable, reusable and recyclable construction products by the innovative production of user and eco-friendly bio-based materials

The building and construction sector is a key area that has a significant impact on the economy and environment. The sector contributes to the economy (about 9% of the EU’s GDP), provides direct and indirect job opportunities to 18 million people, and satisfies the people’s needs for buildings and facilities. However, the sector is one of the main consumers of resources, accounting for about 50% of the total use of raw materials and 36% of the global final energy use. 

Therefore it is necessary to reduce material use and climate impact of the building and construction sector

atrium logo

ATRIUM aims to improve the sustainability of the construction sector by showcasing 5 new biotechnological value chains:

  • Outdoor flooring
  • indoor flooring
  • acoustic panels
  • outdoor plug & play green wall systems
  • building blocks

Objectives and approach

This goal will be achieved by

  • Developing 4 intermediate products: long bioplastic profiles, mycelium tiles & panels, fibre reinforced bioplastic pellets, and low-density hemp composites.
  • Validating 4 innovative processing technologies for scaled up processing towards the targeted consumer products: coextrusion+foaming, mycelium biomanufacturing, injection mulding, and 3D bio-printing or additive manufacturing.
  • Validating the final products at 3 demo sites focusing on gathering information on the one hand about durability and maintenance, and on the other hand interacting with citizens, artists, private sector and architects.
  • Drafting a set of recommendations for pre-normative and regulatory actions related to recyclable, reusable and bio-based construction materials including safety and SSbD considerations.

Consortium

Coordinator: 

  • AITIIP (ES)

Research partners:

  • Wood K plus -  KOMPETENZZENTRUM HOLZ GMBH (AT)
  • Centexbel
  • Alchemia-nova (AT)
  • Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (IL)
  • Circe (ES)
  • Instytut Techniki Budowlanej (PL)
  • Fundación Ibercivis (ES)
  • Industrial partners:
  • Hartika Sp. z o.o. (PL)
  • Tecnopackaging (ES)
  • Mogu SRL (IT)
  • Materiom limited (UK)
  • Zukunftsraum Rothneusiedl (AT)
  • Enco (IT)

Acknowledgement

This project has received funding in the EU Horizon programme HORIZON-CL6-2023-CircBio-01-8, under grant number 101135031.

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Financing authority
Horizon Europe
Project manager(s)
Frederik Goethals
Willem Uyttendaele