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!

Six hempcrete blocks from The Hemp Block Company, HB80 to HB400, in front of a contemporary home at dusk

Manufacturer Spotlights Oct 23

Hempcrete blocks: reading the Hemp Block data

Six hempcrete blocks, one Italian recipe: The Hemp Block Company data on 2050 Materials shows carbon and water scale exactly with wall thickness.

HIMACS Terrazzo colours Q102 Ulivo, Q103 Nuvola, Q105 Sorrento, Q106 Marsala and Q107 Selva, Red Dot 2026 winners

Manufacturer Spotlights Oct 22

Inside HIMACS’ 2026 range: 15 new colours, five Red Dot wins

Five HIMACS Terrazzo colours won a Red Dot Design Award 2026, and four carry SCS-certified recycled content. See the full 2026 range and the EPD data behind it.

A bar front clad in e4E brick slips in grey, cream, orange and red

Manufacturer Spotlights Oct 15

e4E Brick Slips: All the Brick, None of the Kiln

e4E makes brick slips from excavated soil, pressed rather than fired. See how they are made, the formats you can specify and the verified EPDs behind the range.

Close-up of Organoid Wildspitze wallcovering by CaraGreen, made from hand cut alpine hay pressed onto a flax fleece backing

Manufacturer Spotlights Oct 15

CaraGreen’s Organoid Wildspitze: A Wallcovering Grown, Not Manufactured

CaraGreen's Organoid Wildspitze is a wallcovering made from hand cut alpine hay, backed by a third party verified EPD showing 2.2 kg CO2e/m² GWP and stored biogenic carbon.

Carbon Before the Servers: business-as-usual data center buildout at about 137M tonnes CO2e versus about 106M with better steel and concrete specs

Data & Research Oct 08

Data Centers’ Hidden 137M-Tonne Carbon Bill

New data centers could lock in ~137M tonnes of CO2e before a single server switches on. GGBS concrete and recycled steel could cut about 31M of it.

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.