Ideas & News

Our blog is where we share our opinions, ideas, news, and resources we find helpful for the industry. If there’s something you think we should be talking about, reach out!

Data & Research Sep 28

Built to Beat the Heat

This summer's drought wasn't a fluke, it was a preview. Here's the material data that actually decides whether a building shrugs off a heatwave or quietly cooks behind a great winter U value: decrement delay, solar reflectance, SHGC, and the real products behind each one.

Bar chart of cost per tonne of CO2e removed for three embodied carbon swaps: cement replacement with 75% GGBS at £10/t, facade brick buildup at £130/t, and timber vs steel or concrete frame at £190/t

Data & Research Sep 23

The Cost per Tonne Test for Embodied Carbon Swaps

Not every embodied carbon cut is worth paying for. Test any swap on cost per tonne of CO2e, see which band it falls in, and try the free calculator.

Data & Research Sep 02

PFAS Compliance Meets Countdown

Sealants, membranes and insulation are next in line for PFAS restrictions. The window to get ahead of it, rather than scramble to catch up, is closing.

Aerial view of the 300kW solar PV installation on H.G. Matthews' Brickworks roof in Bellingdon

Manufacturer Spotlights Aug 17

H.G. Matthews: Beyond the EPD

H.G. Matthews' new solar-biomass energy system at The Brickworks, Bellingdon is cutting diesel use and lowering embodied carbon, the latest step in a track record of measurable, verified environmental improvement backed by published EPDs.

Data & Research Aug 07

Cost Meets Carbon: 3 Value Engineering Swaps

A cost consultant flags a line, a substitution goes through, and the carbon target set at Stage 2 quietly doubles. Here are the three value engineering swaps we see most often, the real kilograms of CO2e behind each one, and the five minute check that catches them before they happen.

Resilient Cork Collection featuring ten low carbon cork building products with verified environmental data on the 2050 Materials platform

Jul 31

The Resilient Cork Collection: 10 Cork Products Worth Knowing

Cork never asks a tree to die for it. We gathered ten cork products on the platform, from underlays to a sprayed coating, one raw material doing six very different jobs.

Illustration showing how 2050 Materials connects product sustainability data with BIM, cost planning, embodied carbon reporting and procurement workflows.

Jun 26

10 uses for construction product sustainability data outside LCA tools

Discover how quantity surveyors and cost consultants use product sustainability data and APIs for 5D BIM, value engineering, and compliance without full LCA tools.

Usable material data for digital product passports.

Jun 09

Digital Product Passports Are Not the End State: Construction Teams Need Usable Material Data Now

Digital Product Passports can help carry product information, but construction teams need material data that works inside BoQs, BIM, procurement, verification and handover workflows.

PAS 2080 Procurement product data infrastructure

Jun 09

From PAS 2080 to Procurement: Why Carbon Management Now Needs Product Data Infrastructure

Carbon management is moving from reporting into delivery. The bottleneck is whether product, material and supplier evidence can move through design, procurement and project systems at the same speed.