Una Bambu

A true "pinch me" moment for Una Gama. We are thrilled to be featured in the annual entrepreneurs issue of Monocle for 2025 in a "survey of the new firms, founders and strategies that have caught our eye." This recognition comes at a really nice moment for us as a team, as all of our hard work starts to come to fruition. The bamboo superstructure build kicks off on Monday – the culmination of over a year and a half of planning – as we welcome Jese Mar Gallarde from Base Bahay Foundation, Inc. for a month of bamboo building and training. It’s full steam ahead as we prepare to bring our bamboo processing facility to life by the end of the year! Huge thanks to Naomi Xu Elegant for taking the time to meet with us earlier in the year to discuss all things island life and bamboo, and to Muhammad Fadli for capturing these magical moments. We spent a wonderful afternoon back in February reflecting on the weird and wonderful ups and downs of starting a business and innovating with natural materials. It’s a beautiful thing to have this inspiring encounter immortalised in print! The cherry on top? Being featured alongside so many other incredible innovators! It’s a real honour. We’re excited to share more about what’s ahead on this journey in the months ahead. Watch this bamboo space! . . BUSINESS TOOLKIT: https://lnkd.in/gs44DCea

🌿 Sri Lanka: A Regenerative Tourism Story 🌿 Sri Lanka has faced immense challenges in recent years, but there's another story to tell—a story of resilience, biodiversity, and untapped investment opportunities. 🌍✨ Thanks to Bhagya Mahavithanage, Prasad Jayasuriya and the Investor Relations Unit of the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority, we’ve been able to share this narrative with the world: Sri Lanka is not just 'recovering', but healing—and ready to welcome conscious investors looking to create meaningful impact that prioritises the well-being of the island and its residents. 🦚 💫💚 Together with Alyna Haji Omar and a talented team of professionals, we produced a digital booklet and video that highlight the island’s incredible potential for regenerative tourism—right in time for the Future Hospitality Summit in Dubai earlier this month. A big thank you to all the hoteliers, property managers, media teams, and digital creators across Sri Lanka who were able to deliver this over Sri Lanka's Presidential election weekend - what a feat! 🌟 Sri Lanka—your destination for timeless, sustainable investments. We're not about fast returns; we're about investing in nature’s recovery and uplifting the quality of life for locals, through smarter tourism investments. Let's invest in tourism that heals the planet and its people. 🌱 To see the full Digital Booklet, visit this link: https://lnkd.in/gMnkaFv7 #SriLanka #RegenerativeTourism #SustainableInvestments #FutureOfTourism #InvestInNature #FutureHospitalitySummit

Thrilled to announce our partnership with Una! 🌟 🌿 Exciting News! GLX is thrilled to announce our new partnership with Una Bambu! Together, we're paving the way for a sustainable future by innovating alternative and circular construction materials made from bamboo. 🏗️✨ Get ready to build a greener tomorrow in Sri Lanka with us! #SustainableLiving #BambooRevolution #GLXxUna #EcoFriendlyBuilding #UnaBambu #UnaGama #Partnership #GoodLifeX #Regeneration

JOB FAIRY Una Gama is hiring! The Bamboo Supply Lead will play a crucial role in the operations of Una Gama’s bamboo processing factory. The role is responsible for managing the incoming flow of bamboo through Una Gama’s supply chain and overseeing all aspects of this process. This is a unique and exciting opportunity for the right candidate to join an innovative start-up environment in sustainable building, working alongside and learning from local and international experts, and being part of the growing bamboo movement in Sri Lanka. Are you an NIC holder qualified in forestry, conservation, sustainability or ecology, with experience managing teams, your own vehicle and with a desire to work in nature? If so, we want to hear from you! Click on the link below for the full job description: https://lnkd.in/gaDUuqKX Apply by sending your CV along with a cover letter telling us why you're the right fit for the job to [email protected]. Applications close on 30 April 2024. . . . . #jobfairy #hiringalert #bamboosrilanka #buildingwithbamboo #bambu #bamboo #bambou #bamboovillage #unagama #bamboovillage #architecture #bambooarchitecture #bamboodesign #bamboobuilding #lowimpact #decarbonising #decarbonizedbuildings #biomaterials #srilanka #unabambu GOOD LIFE X

So there you have it – 14 months of work condensed into some very exciting announcements about what lies ahead in 2024 and beyond. We will continue to share our progress throughout the factory build and everything that follows. We can't wait to show you our new location! We’re entering the next chapter – Una Gama, or Bamboo Village. It really does take a village! Joost Thus Hilti Foundation Base Bahay Foundation, Inc. GOOD LIFE X . . . . #bamboosrilanka #buildingwithbamboo #bambu #bamboo #bambou #bamboovillage #unagama #bamboovillage #architecture #bambooarchitecture #bamboodesign #bamboobuilding #lowimpact #decarbonising #decarbonizedbuildings #biomaterials #srilanka #unabambu

Last year, as our plans with Joost Thus, Hilti Foundation and Base Bahay Foundation, Inc. progressed, we knew we needed a well-connected, values-aligned local partner for a venture that has the potential to create such a wide impact. With a stated mission to transform the future of Asia from extractive to regenerative, the team over at GOOD LIFE X (GLX) were the natural first choice. Self-coined Alchemists for Good Growth, GLX is a catalyst that creates customised solutions for the private and the public sector in Sri Lanka to transition into a future-proof economy and create net positive impact through operations, strategic management, regenerative value chains, and go-to-market strategies. Through their pioneering Thrive Canvas (BMC), GLX have worked with a wide range of local startups and SMEs to “meet the changing landscape of business needs and practices” with a strong focus on regenerative business models. We are delighted to today announce that we have now partnered with GLX to bring our bamboo factory vision to life, working closely with them on the many aspects of the venture that require local business insights and expertise, with a regenerative mindset to boot. We are so pleased to be working with such a forward-thinking company, knowing they will be beside us as we scale all that is good about bamboo! Dream team! . . . . #bamboosrilanka #buildingwithbamboo #bambu #bamboo #bambou #bamboovillage #unagama #architecture #bambooarchitecture #bamboodesign #bamboobuilding #aplacetocallhome #lowimpact #decarbonising #decarbonizedbuildings #biomaterials #srilanka #unabambu

If you saw our post yesterday, you may be wondering what Cement-Bamboo Frame Technology (CBFT) is and why we need this type of building technology in Sri Lanka. Allow us to share some stats: On a global scale, the construction industry today is responsible for roughly 38% of global CO2 emissions. With CBFT we can begin to decarbonize homes and reduce construction emissions by up to a massive 70%. In Sri Lanka, the construction industry is the largest consumer of natural resources, including bulk minerals (sand, rock, clay), timber, and fibre, and there is a distinct lack of alternatives. By building with bamboo, we are supporting a renewable material, as well as providing diverse livelihood opportunities and building a more sustainable future. Due to the consequences of the economic crisis in Sri Lanka and post-COVID impacts on global inflation rates, 2022/3 saw a drastic increase in the price of building materials, two to three times in some instances. These inflated costs have exacerbated the shortage of affordable housing amidst an already difficult economic climate. With technology like CBFT, we can reduce the overall price of buildings, and become less reliant on global supply chains, in turn making housing accessible to more people. Most importantly, there is a growing need for more climate-resilient homes. Nowhere is this more apparent than somewhere like the Philippines which experiences extreme weather conditions, like typhoons reaching winds of 315 km/h, and earthquakes of up to magnitude 8 on the Richter scale. CBFT has been developed in this environment and has been proven to be more resilient in extreme conditions than conventional homes. For all these reasons, we are incredibly excited about introducing this innovative and tested building technology to Sri Lanka. Our goal is to build two prototype CBFT homes within the next 12 months, with more news about the designs to follow. 👉 Let us know in the comments if you would live in a CBFT home in Sri Lanka. . 📸 Base Bahay Foundation, Inc. and Hilti Foundation . . . . #bamboodesign #buildingwithbamboo #bamboobuilding #lowimpact #decarbonizedbuildings #biomaterials #srilanka #unabambu #unagama Una Gama Joost Thus

Our mission had now become two-fold; streamline our bamboo harvesting and processing and create bamboo social housing. You don’t have to look too hard to find two organisations that are experts in these combined areas, and so we went knocking on the doors of the Hilti Foundation and Base Bahay Foundation, Inc. For those familiar with the bamboo construction industry, these guys hardly need an introduction. For everyone else, allow us to introduce these two powerhouse social foundations. The Hilti Foundation supports a whole range of development initiatives, one of which is giving deprived communities a safe place to call home through the development of affordable housing and building technology. Base Bahay Foundation is an initiative of the Hilti Foundation. They have established a leading innovation centre in the Philippines where they have developed their incredible Cement-Bamboo Frame Technology (CBFT), amongst many other things, with which they have built more than 1,500 homes. Not only that, Base Bahay has launched countless bamboo treatment facilities and resilient communities throughout the Philippines, as well as in India and Nepal. To sum up, they are the experts we needed to pull off our goals, and to our delight they opened their doors to us. They have been guiding and mentoring us over the last year to develop a plan for executing our two-fold mission simultaneously; a bamboo processing facility that will also create CBFT wall panels for affordable housing solutions. To say we’re proud of this collaboration is an understatement. We have already learned so much, and we’ve only just begun. We can’t thank PABLO JORILLO, Luis Felipe Lopez, and Johann Baar enough for believing in the future of Sri Lankan bamboo, entrusting us with their knowledge, and believing in us to move things forward together! 🎥 Nuwan Attanayake . . . . #bamboosrilanka #buildingwithbamboo #bambu #bamboo #bambou #bamboovillage #unagama #architecture #bambooarchitecture #bamboodesign #bamboobuilding #aplacetocallhome #lowimpact #decarbonising #decarbonizedbuildings #biomaterials #srilanka #unabambu #basebahay #hiltifoundation

We receive almost weekly enquiries about building bamboo resorts and yoga shalas in Sri Lanka. So when we were approached by Joost Thus at the beginning of 2023 about working on bamboo social housing we jumped at the opportunity. We have always felt that bamboo for construction should be accessible to a wide range of building projects, and what better way to create this environment than by building low-carbon, low-cost housing, showcasing bamboo’s full range of potential? But would living in a bamboo house be culturally accepted in Sri Lanka? Through Srilancare, a Dutch aid organization, Joost had been working with a children’s home in Kurunegala where 40 to 50 boys from all around the island are residing. Through the vocational training program there, we set out to learn from the young residents about what makes a home in Sri Lanka, hosting a bamboo model-making workshop and creating a collective design process. Through a simple exercise of asking questions, listening and making we began to understand what a home means to some of the most disadvantaged in Sri Lankan society, for whom a safe place of their own can feel like a far-off dream. We were so impressed by the enthusiastic input and the resulting models, even uncovering a few budding design talents amongst the group. From here we started to think about a design for bamboo housing, and that’s when the project took on a whole new level... . . . #bamboosrilanka #buildingwithbamboo #bambu #bamboo #bambou #bamboovillage #unagama #architecture #bambooarchitecture #bamboodesign #bamboobuilding #aplacetocallhome #lowimpact #decarbonising #decarbonizedbuildings #biomaterials #srilanka #unabambu

When we built the first UNA prototype at the end of 2022 it took us 6 months to harvest and process the 800 bamboo poles needed for the build. Not terribly efficient, right? Granted the design we built is not the most simple (we swapped post and beam for hyperbolic paraboloids!), but with the mission of one day executing the masterplan for our hotel we started to look for ways to make the bamboo processing more streamlined and professional. Fast forward 14 months, and we are thrilled to announce that we have just signed a lease on a commercial site where over the coming months we will build a dedicated bamboo processing factory for construction. The factory will be built with bamboo, of course, on a site that is strategically positioned in proximity to some of the biggest sources of bamboo on the island. By launching a pilot factory, we envision a bamboo future in Sri Lanka where high-quality, treated, timber bamboo is accessible to all types of building projects and budgets, from high-end architecture and green hospitality development to environmentally friendly, affordable housing solutions, seamlessly weaving its way into the vernacular built environment of the island as a reliable, durable and sustainable timber alternative. We have been collaborating with an incredible line-up of mentors, experts and peers to bring this vision to life. Stay tuned for our next posts to learn more about our factory collaborators and partners, but in the meantime, let us know in the comments what you would build with bamboo from Sri Lanka’s pilot bamboo factory. . . . #bamboosrilanka #buildingwithbamboo #bambu #bamboo #bambou #bamboovillage #unagama #architecture #bambooarchitecture #bamboodesign #bamboobuilding #lowimpact #materialfutures #biomaterials #srilanka #unabambu