Biobased Building Comparison Tool

With Holland Houtland, ASN Bank and the Province of South-Holland, we created an open and free to use web-app to compare the climate and other impacts of bio-based versus regular construction materials – all converted to numbers for the average Dutch house.

Our Biobased Building Comparison Tool

Bio-based building materials

To deal with the housing crisis in the Netherlands, we’ll need to build one million new homes by 2030. At the same time, many construction projects are at a standstill because of international CO2 and nitrogen reduction goals. Why don’t we swap concrete and steel for bio-based materials, so that we can tackle the problem at its core? Bio-based materials such as wood, hemp, flax and straw, are not only climate positive materials, they are accompanied with numerous other benefits.

Climate Positive Building
Lightweight bio-based materials make transport and construction more efficient, which drastically decreases nitrogen and CO2 emissions. Bio-based building materials do not only promote biodiversity, they contribute to long-term carbon storage. 
Health and happiness
Bio-based materials have better acoustic properties and offer excellent noise control. Bio-based buildings breathe—they assure a healthy and comfortable indoor climate through their moisture and heat-regulating properties.
Future-proof Materials
New bio-based materials are more fire-resistant, stronger and safer than ever. Prefabrication speeds up the construction process, lowering costs and significantly decreasing the waste, noise, and traffic typical of construction sites.  

Full impact assessment

Which materials we use for building matter. They influence the process of construction, renovation, demolition and transportation. They influence the impact on ecosystems and our climate. They influence how people feel. They influence costs. 

We’ve created a tool that aids decision-makers with the best scientific evidence and the latest Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) data to easily compare scenarios of the impact of different building materials. This is what’s needed to accelerate the transition towards bio-based building.

Explore our Sprint diaries

We work in agile design sprints and share our developmental progress in our Sprint diaries to offer full transparency. We default to open source, as it’s an essential part of our design philosophy.    

Sprint 0: Ecosystem

Exploring the bio-based building ecosystem

Sprint 1: Conditions

Uncovering the conditions for change in the building industry

Sprint 2: Development

Developing the building material impact tool

Sprint 3: Delivery

Delivery of the building material impact tool