From right to left the RECONMATIC partners Twiggy Zhao and Jia Li (Arcas & Callisto Consulting), Paolo Maria Ridolfi and Andrea Rispoli (Italferr), Mahmoud Alhawamdeh and Juan Ferriz Papi (University of Salford)
This year, the RECONMATIC partners, Italferr S.p.A., Arcas & Callisto Consulting and the University of Salford visited Futurebuild expo in London (7-9 March 2023), one of the construction industry’s must-see events in the UK, to get inspired, attend conferences and visit sustainably driven product booths. The expo brought together more than 400 innovative brands, start-ups and industry leaders were brought together and was a great platform for the entire supply chain to share and exchange knowledge and experience on how to make net zero possible.
We had the opportunity to discuss with many stakeholders who showed great interest in our project’s progress. We shared information about the RECONMATIC project and answered questions on our vision and work on driving positive change in the circular economy, by creating automated solutions for sustainable & circular construction and demolition Waste Management. We had very interesting discussions and contacts with some important engineering, design and consultancy companies like Ramboll and Orms. We also discussed about Life cycle Assessment (LCA) and circularity assessment software with Oneclick and met a lot of companies and start-ups to get inspired about new sustainable solutions in the construction field; Here is a brief presentation of some among them that we found very interesting:
Cadline MEPWorx is a Solution for Compliant Building Services Design that brings together design, analysis and co-ordination activities into integrated, logical workflows. By seamlessly linking to Autodesk Revit, the solution offers accredited design calculations for mechanical, electrical and lighting design and will also perform dynamic thermal simulation for the largest and most complex of buildings.
EHAB is a weather Risk Management Platform. It supports planning with an intelligent planning software you can create accurate bids in less than 30 minutes, to improve utilisation and avoid down days for the most complex infrastructure projects to the simplest maintenance jobs. It also offers a smart contracts solution that helps automate admin and share risk through more effective agreements. Finally, weather-related losses can be recovered in a matter of hours rather than months or years, thanks to instant payouts.
ISDM Solutions is a remote Collaboration solutions that provides secure and adaptable audio-visual collaboration solutions, networking and security solutions, video conferencing and virtual events to the meeting room and space management solutions by a team of passionate experts who believe that borders should not bind effective communication and interaction.
Additionally, from concept to demolition - Preoptima will be your carbon informant every step of the way. The solution serves as a trusty Carbon Hub that can be used in every stage of the building lifecycle, ensuring that any decisions made are well-informed and aligned with a Paris Agreement scenario. There is no other product on the market which provides this ability to track embodied and operational carbon through the entire building lifecycle. This one allows:
To use Generative design and AI to analyse hundreds of thousands of building design iterations aligned with specified design inputs and to get a range of optimised low-carbon design options.
Live editing + design exports during the detailed design phase, by interfacing seamlessly with CAD and design tools, allowing the whole design team to understand the live carbon performance of detailed design choices in real time, providing an accurate “as designed” carbon figure for planning purposes.
Tracking of the actual quantities of materials ordered, providing an accurate “as built” carbon figure for SBTs, tracking scope 3 emissions, and calculating carbon offsets.
Building use and end-of-life embodied and operational carbon costs are taken into account. and correctly factored into decision-making.
Purrmetrix provides the tools and data to provide efficient, comfortable, and productive buildings. They provide some award-winning solutions to work in homes and workplaces, using temperature, humidity, and CO2 to provide insights into building performance. Their toolset can be fitted into any building and will measure a range of metrics in real-time, feeding powerful analyses on air quality, energy efficiency and fabric performance.
Glenigan offers a fully up-to-date, comprehensive and actionable information on UK construction. Plus, a lot more besides – all designed to help build businesses, plan better and forecast the future of the industry. Glenigan is a trusted provider of construction project sales leads, industry data, analysis, forecasting and company intelligence. They combine comprehensive data gathering and exhaustive research with detailed statistical modelling and expert analysis to deliver information the customers can depend on.
Innovative Materials
By browsing the expo, we also noticed that more and more construction materials are 100% recyclable, a trend that proves that Circular Economy is moving forward, making our project RECONMATIC even more important and meaningful. By browsing the expo, we also noticed that more and more construction materials are 100% recyclable, a trend that proves that Circular Economy is moving forward, making our project RECONMATIC even more important and meaningful. 100% recycled steel, HONEXT plates made by fiber waste and Glaskeramik glass boards used in facades and interior design projects are only a few of those explored by our team.
We also got to know more on some low carbon concrete solutions like Seratech Decarbonized Concrete or the OSTO carbon-negative aggregate, cement production from construction and demolition waste using the Mevo low carbon cement process, hempcrete construction, modular construction.
There was also an exhibition of natural materials and products led by Architects Climate Action Network (ACAN), an organization of professionals in architecture or related built environments who want to address the twin crises of climate and ecological collapse through proactive action. They held a topic group to help the participants understand the definition of natural materials, clarify the benefits of using these materials in construction and promote the use of natural building materials on a large scale by the industry.
Expo & Seminars thematic areas
The exhibition spaces and seminars – which the partners had the opportunity to participate in - were organized according to the following 8 thematic areas concerning the construction panorama:
Materials (Reuse, Circularity, Low Carbon Solutions);
Building (Passivhaus, High Performance, Regulations & Standards);
Energy (Renewables, Decarbonisation, Heat Networks, District Energy, New Tech);
Digital (Modular Efficiency, Creative Placemaking, Reliability);
Sustainable Infrastructure (Blue, Green & Grey Infrastructure, Biodiversity);
Retrofit (High-Quality Insulation, Building Services);
Off-Site (Modular Efficiency, Creative Placemaking, Reliability);
Interiors (Wellbeing, Biophilic Design, Healthy Buildings);
It basically covered all aspects of the built environment, and had also added the FutureX Innovation area, which focused on start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises, so that the audience could more easily see the unprecedented innovations brought by fresh blood and understand their development from initial ideas to practical experience.
Below, some of the main seminars joined:
Digital Twins: What are they and what is their value?
Modular Construction and the Journey to Net Zero – curated by MPBA
Increasing sustainability by design – curated by KNX UK
The smart way to use data in whole lifecycle asset information management
Circular Economy: How engineers can embrace the circular economy to drive the design and management of infrastructure? – curated by ICE
In conclusion, the exhibition was an inspiring experience, that allowed us to get in touch with different stakeholders and actors in the construction field, which show us innovative solutions, that could be potentially used in the RECONMATIC project and beyond. Looking forward to Futurebuild expo 2024 for more surprises and innovation!