The research aims at placing the build environment centrally in a sustainable material cycle of society. Research and innovation focus is on increased replacement of natural raw materials with secondary resources (if necessary optimized). In addition, strong emphasis is on utmost recycling at the end of life. Such redesigned construction materials strongly support waste minimization in society, as the building industry is a major materials consumer on a volume base.
The redesigned construction materials must not be a modern waste dump and there will be no compromise on either environmental emissions or the quality of the building materials.
The research is proactive as increased pressure on the building industry to use secondary resources is foreseen. The necessary knowledge regarding effects from the secondary materials on the construction materials is generally lacking so the building industry cannot yet set relevant specification requirements to the seconary resources. This knowledge is compiled and evaluated. The research covers the whole size range from structure to micro-scale.
The new raw materials do offer unique possibilities for production of new construction materials with new properties. Construction materials are rethought and the newest and most updated knowledge is utilized to design sustainable construction materials meeting tomorrow’s demands. The intelligently redesigned building materials focus on production of materials with new and innovative characteristics (e.g. related to aesthetics or indoor climate), as well as materials
with new composition but similar characteristics as known from the traditional materials of today.