In the not too distant future we could live in buildings made from hemp. This is stated in the report The architecture of the future, prepared by the digital platform for construction and real estate project management PlanRadar. Specifically, eight of the twelve countries analyzed plan to use this material in their future buildings. “It is a good material to use as insulation or for the manufacture of concrete or bricks, basic elements in construction,” says Domagoj Dolinsek, co-executive director of PlanRadar.
The trend is part of the sector's commitment to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and contribute to achieving a circular economy, which is one in which it is not necessary to extract new raw materials because the resources in circulation are infinitely reused. The commercial and residential construction sector is responsible for 39% of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, the main gas that causes global warming, while generating 30% of solid waste and 20% of pollution of the waters.
Another booming material is wood. "In Catalonia, buildings with a wooden structure are already being built", says David Masip, researcher at Eurecat's Product Development Unit. "Wood is a new material in the south of Europe, but in the northern countries, it has always been used for construction", adds Irene Ràfols, Director of Product Innovation and Multiphysics Simulation at Eurecat.
Both wood and hemp are materials of plant origin and, therefore, renewable and biocompostable at the end of their useful life. That is, you can always get more hemp or wood and they do not become a waste. "We tend to a more efficient use of resources, which will lead to reuse, less pressure on the consumption of resources, the valorization of waste, and the use of indigenous constructive solutions or low-tech techniques and technologies that are proper and perfectly adapted to each region or climate zone", explains Jordi Marrot, director of the technical area of Rehabilitation and Environment of the College of Apparatus, Technical Architects and Building Engineers of Barcelona.
A third trend detected in the PlanRadar study is the use of recycled materials. However, for Masip "the use of waste to obtain construction materials is a solution, but it is not the definitive solution because at the end of this new useful life these materials will also end up being waste".
Building materials is one of the parameters taken into account by building environmental certifications, the best known being LEED and Breeam. According to an analysis by the international real estate consultancy JLL, Barcelona occupies the first position in Europe in terms of the percentage of office building projects with these two certificates. Specifically, Barcelona accounts for 68% of the projects planned until the end of 2024.
Currently, the Catalan capital has 171 buildings with LEED or Breeam certifications (25 of them since 2021), which represents about 12% of the buildings. With the projects ongoing until the end of 2024, the percentage will increase to 14%. Seven out of every ten new certified projects will be located in the 22@ neighbourhood.
