BC materials

2024 has been a dramatic year (massive floodings & wildfires, wars that are caused or aggravated by the chase for ressources and/or fossil energy,...). But there's a lot possible, once we align interests & scale non-fossil based production, low tech & circular approaches. With BC materials we will be closed from 23rd of December till the 5th of January, but if it interests you, we'd like to give you some fascinating lecture, during your holidays, on how to implement these trajectories. - First of all: "It's About Time : The Architecture of Climate Change": a fascinating book, based on the Biennale in Rotterdam, that looks at the potential roles for architects as both Ancestor, Accelerator & Activist. Véronique Patteeuw & Léa-Catherine Szacka offer a wealth of options to save life on our planet through a regenerative approach. Kristiaan Borret was very right in pointing out during the book presentation at CIVA this week that legislation is a very important & necessary lever. Cue to: - Secondly: the World Green Building Council has set up a tracker to see how several legislative initiatives are on their way to help combat climate change, to steer finance towards sustainable investments, to set up regulations that facilitate very low carbon materials & public tenders that can work as a big lever for the building market. The Whole Life Carbon approach is actually one of the quickest wins, we can achieve. Find out more on : https://lnkd.in/dQqk9n_N - "How much is enough?", the economists Robert & Edward Skidelsky once asked. Ramboll recently answered part of this question for the building industry with a perspective on sufficiency, along three trajectories: *prioritising renovations over demolition and new construction; *increasing average space use intensity; *designing buildings to be used more intensively throughout the day/week or future uses.  (Full read: https://lnkd.in/e3ZgfMhp ) Happy reading & a great vacation with friends and loved ones! 🙏

We've continued to grow steadily during 2024 and that's why we want to reinforce the BC team in 2025 with a trainer Leembouw/ Formateur en construction terre crue. Feel free to apply if you're a enthusiastic, patient & knowledgeable earth builder (m/v/x) that can transfer knowledge & skills to builders, craftsmen & contractors. ❤️ It's very important that you speak French or Dutch, and ideally both. Terminology you can learn on the construction site/ workshop space or in all of our guides (see all technical fiches & guides we have on www.leem.works, click downloads). To apply, send your cv & motivation to [email protected] . (If you have questions, you can ask at the same adress 🙏) . We'll be closed during the 23rd of December until the 5th of January, but we're planning to have conversations held in January, so feel free to send the upcoming weeks or tag or send to people you know. Thank you for sharing, and wishing you wonderful holidays with friends & loved ones!! ⭐️🍾🎂 #vacancy #job #earthbuilding #earthbuildingworkshop

Last week, Ken De Cooman, our co-founder, had the pleasure and honor of doing the 2024 Rick Mather Lecture to a sold-out audience at the Barbican Centre. (Thank you to The Architecture Foundation London for inviting us!) If we tap into circular & vernacular methods, we can create a future that will work better for the environment, for the planet & for the people. We were grateful for the opportunity to show projects like Usquare (in collaboration with evr-architecten & Callebaut Architecten) & LUMA Arles (in collaboration with Assemble ), where hempcrete, earth plasters (normal & acoustic) compressed earth blocks, rammed earth,.. were integrated, and the importance of collaboration in making & applying these materials. A big thank you to everyone for attending, contributing & exchanging after the lecture. We look forward to seeing these ideas grow, and hope to have inspired you 🙏.

"According to the European Commission, an estimated 231,000 to 863,000 tons of microplastics enter European environments each year from paint waste. With a target to reduce microplastics by 30% by 2030, researchers stress the importance of designing materials with this concern in mind from the outset to avoid the high costs and complexities of later remediation." Insightful piece by Eduardo Souza, that not only highlights microplastics in classic paint, but also the study of Henning Larsen (Martha Lewis) on the CO2 impact of paints. By avoiding microplastics in the design of the material composition, clay paints work better, improve our own health and that of the oceans, rivers & ecosystems. See full piece: https://lnkd.in/eR_54vz9

It can be hard as a starting business that wants to produce materials, to find the right spot, especially in the city as there's a high pressure to develop offices & apartments. (Just to give you an idea: perspective.brussels calculated that we've lost 44.000 m2 official productive space in Brussels in the period 2020-2021) That's why we're very happy that we could start on a terrain in the Port of Brussels more than five years ago, and that we can continue to thrive in this zone. We explain in this video why we are here: - affordability: a relatively low price to be very central in the city - expansive zone: we've increased our square meter use from 300 to 1300 m2 (and will increase even more with Stadsatelierdeville and the collaboration with Democo Group & Sonian, Natura Mater, Tournevie, Circular Timber,...). - accessibility for trucks and in the future by boat: as you know, most excavated earth arrives in trucks and so we need acces by trucks, while knowing that in the future we could use, for very large volumes, the inland navigation and the services of companies like Shipit Multimodal Logistics. (Building) materials and harbours are a natural match, and if you are looking for spaces to produce and/or stock in Brussels you can check the possibilities here: https://lnkd.in/eZncERWw . Know if you are active in other cities like Ghent & Antwerp, that there the harbours also have lots of spaces to rent. Currently lots of Harbours worldwide are active & facilitating the transport of fossil energy (refining,..). If we really want a net zero economy by 2050, these fossil activities will have to be phased out progressively and very good space will open itself towards new decarbonized & circular makers and producers. There's a bright future for the Harbours here. See the full video of our experience in the Brussels harbour here: https://lnkd.in/e8c9Xepf Many thanks to journalist Job Van Nieuwenhove , and for the support of the Harbour Gert Van der Eeken Natacha Orban Sandro Imparato Damien Lecomte , Aurélie Van Sippe.

Repair, refurbishment and the use of bio-, geo-, local and recycled materials have guided the Hanok Project - the rehabilitation of a traditional Korean house and garden in Dongmyung-dong. In collaboration with BC architects&studies&materials, Assemble and Atelier LUMA (LUMA Arles), this project is part of the fifth edition of Gwangju folly, Re:Folly, by the Gwangju Biennale Foundation. Working with local artisans, we researched the Jeollanam-do bioregion, exploring algae farming, bamboo, hinoki forestry and shellfish supply chains. Selected materials such as compressed cockle blocks and abalone plaster were incorporated, blending European practices focused on bioregional design with South Korea’s industrialised economy. Architectural improvements include a community garden linking two streets and enclosing the ‘maru’ (traditionally open air) as a conservatory for additional insulation. Today, a local association maintains the Hanok, which has become an integral part of the neighbourhood’s public life. Photography  1-6 Sandra Revuelta Albero  7-8 Sooin Jang 9 Haeun Roy  10 Yang Hana

🌍 Earth blocks are versatile building materials that can be applied across a range of construction scenarios, both for load-bearing and non-load-bearing purposes. They can be used for infill masonry, partition walls, or cladding and finishing. 🔍Our research explores the potential applications of earth blocks within various construction systems, including both new construction projects and renovations. A particular emphasis is placed on ensuring strong, compatible connections with other materials and the seamless integration in diverse building contexts. 📸 Pictured: Two inspiring projects we're following with the Living Lab: Project TANNAT in Molenbeek: highlights the use of the stabilised earth blocks as infill masonry in a four-bedroom appartement. Both the CLT walls and the earth bricks remain visible, requiring very precise masonry work and careful attention to connection details. photo 1-2: project TANNAT by BLAF architecten, earth blocks by BC materials, contracter Democo Group Project 50&c.O. in Ostend: In this renovation project, earth blocks serve as infill masonry within an existing structure, used between rooms and even between housing units. The architects paid special attention to the connections, maximising the acoustic properties and performance of the stabilised earth blocks. photo 3-5: project 50&c.O. by BOB361 Architects, earth blocks by BC materials, contracter Verstraetebouw #SustainableConstruction #EarthBlocks #NaturalMaterials #LivingLab #InnovationInConstruction #Renovation #CircularEconomy Living Lab Leemsteen is a project with support of VLAIO - Flanders Innovation & Entrepreneurship and executed in collaboration with our project partners: Hasselt University, Democo, Buildwise, a2o, @BrickZ, BC materials

We're very happy to announce to you that private clients will be able to buy our léém paint directly at ... RotorDC. It's one of the lesser known ICA principles of the cooperative model (the sixth one actually) : collaboration with other cooperatives. That’s why we’re quite honored to be partnering up for the distribution of our new léém paints towards private clients, with our Brussels buddies from Rotor (a group that inspires us a lot!). As you know they have a treasure trove of second hand materials, in their shop (& warehouse) in Evere, and they are open on Saturdays, so if you’re a private person (without tva number) we recommend you to go visit them (or order online) if you want to buy our materials. There’s a great complementarity between our (common) materials and our approach and we think Brussels people and Brussels visitors will enjoy the ease of finding both at one spot 🙏 . We’re also happy to continue our (existing) collaborations with Ecobati & Ecomat BV for the other regions (Walloon & Flanders) where you will be able to order, and then pick up our materials. We think there is great strength in collaboration and no individual partner can change the building materials industry on their own. But together we can! Find out more at https://lnkd.in/e7GnExhS Febecoop Vlaanderen-Brussel Peter Bosmans #collaboration #cooperative #Brussels PS: also go check out Rotor’s great expo Bozar ‘Entangled matter’, with the support of Aplusarchitecture  , where they dive deep into the quarries and sources of materials! Fascinating short movies by Beka Lemoine!

Although paint seems (and often is) thin and a latecomer in the design choice, it still has a significant carbon footprint. The RMI (Rocky Mountain Institute - The Rockefeller Foundation) estimates it at 3,5 kg C02 per square meter. Because people sometimes underestimate all the meters to be painted, the total impact can accumulate quite fastly (large surfaces!). In this way our léém natural paints are an easy way to reduce total whole life carbon emissions, apart from being much more healthy (no VOC’s!). Because we work with excavated sand (no microplastics!) , and only an extremely small amount of virgin resources (see our technical fiche), we estimate the carbon impact of our materials to be extremely low or almost negligible. Check out all our paints & technical fiche at https://lnkd.in/dGeX5sc4 Thanks to Chris Magwood for sharing the graph!  #climatechange #embodiedcarbon #upfrontcarbon

“We were actually terrified that our kids would start to eat the plastic pieces of paint that were flaking off the wall.”    That’s what the director of the elementary school (MABO Brussels) told us. We thought it was a great reason to launch our texture paint in their polyvalent hall, repaint their wall and show how healthy & beautiful, natural léém Clay Paints can be applied. The kids also had great fun applying it! 😃 We’re super proud, after long months of sampling, prototyping & testing, to present you our new Léém Clay Paint: 0% VOC’s, 0% microplastic. Available in four colors (based on the clay used), produced with excavated earth, and easy to apply! (Check it out at https://lnkd.in/dGeX5sc4)