University of Brighton hosts the SB&WRC Project Steering Committee

The SB&WRC project is supported by the European program Interreg VA France (Channel) England and receives financial support from the ERDF.

On 26th June, all of the partners of the INTERREG SB&WRC (Sustainable and Bio-Waste Resources for Construction) project met in Brighton, United Kingdom, to report on the progress made in the design of new waste and bio-based building materials, particularly since the last strategic management in January in Paris.

The friendly atmosphere and warm welcome from the partners at Brighton University (Duncan Baker-Brown, Siobhan O'Dowd, Ben Bosence and Ryan Woodard) was particularly conducive to collaboration between the various parties. Beyond the presentation of everyone's progress, particularly on the development of prototypes, the meeting made it possible to anticipate the next stages of the project, in a collective good mood!

• UniLasalle Rouen presented the first results for fire testing of its prototype made from maïze pith. (read more)
• ESITC Caen showed the testing results of the 8 mini-prototypes developed by the University of Brighton. (read more)
• University of Brighton reported on its research into developing a 100% recycled formulation for the outer shell of its prototype, consisting of a combination of a binder created from used oyster shells and a coating of concrete waste and crushed bricks.
• The University of Bath is producing their final small-scale test prototypes before commencing the production of their final wheat straw prototype in the autumn.
• Construction21 and ASBP increased the project's visibility online, with 2 dedicated communities in French and in English, a bilingual newsletter, a dedicated Twitter account and a conference planned for the autumn in the UK.
• Lead partner Nomadéis are developing a questionnaire for the construction sector to determine professionals' perceptions of bio-based and recycled materials. (read more)

The meeting at Brighton University was also an opportunity for the partners to visit the Waste House, a building situated on campus which is made from 90% recycled or reused materials. (see photo at the top of this page). Innovations included exterior wall facades made of carpet tiles; walls insulated with toothbrushes and industrial lighting recovered from disused ships. The Waste House is a great example of the circular economy in action!

The SB&WRC project continues throughout the summer as the online communities will remain active with regular progress updates and a relevant articles about bio-based and recycled materials. Most importantly, the project partners continue to develop the prototypes and will carry out further testing before production of the final prototype in the autumn.