![]() Other innovators include Qube, an India-based startup creating bricks out of plastic waste, and the ClickBrick which eliminates the use of cement through modular stacking (think real-life Lego). Zero Waste Scotlandīut despite the challenges, Kenoteq is far from being the only company trying to make construction more sustainable. Gabriela Medero, co-founder of Kenoteq, came up with the idea for the K-Briq over a decade ago. Innovative startups need large contracts to allow them to scale, he says, but struggle to become competitive without a large operation already in place. He attributes the industry’s conservatism to a “chicken and egg” situation. Stephen Boyle is the program manager for construction at non-profit Zero Waste Scotland which, along with organizations including Scottish Enterprise and the Royal Academy of Engineering, has provided Kenoteq with funding. Geldermans says that the industry is notoriously slow to change – adding that legislation often lags far behind innovation, so construction companies are not incentivized to adopt sustainable practices and materials. Medero is looking at scaling up – but it’s hard to create a revolution in construction. Kenoteq currently operates one workshop in Edinburgh, which can produce three million K-Briqs a year. Gabriela Medero and Sam Chapman, co-founders of Kenoteq, say they have created a sustainable alternative to traditional fired clay bricks. With her university’s support, Medero joined forces with fellow engineer Sam Chapman and set up Kenoteq in 2009. As she became aware of the construction industry’s sustainability issues, she started looking for solutions. Originally from Brazil, Medero says she was drawn to civil engineering because it gave her passion for maths and physics a practical outlet. That’s why Gabriela Medero, a professor of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering at Scotland’s Heriot-Watt University, decided to reinvent it. ![]() The building blocks of modern suburban homes would be familiar to the city planners of ancient Babylon, the bricklayers of the Great Wall of China, or the builders of Moscow’s Saint Basil’s Cathedral.īut the brick as we know it causes significant environmental problems, by using up raw, finite materials and creating carbon emissions. For thousands of years, the humble clay-fired brick hasn’t changed. It does not store any personal data.Although we’re surrounded by millions of them every day, most of us don’t think about bricks too often. The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. ![]() The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly.
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