Ideas & News

The Hemp Block Story: Building a Greener Future with Natural Innovation

Smarter Renovation Materials with the 2050 Materials API

Discover how the 2050 Materials API powers smarter renovation materials decisions—enabling carbon benchmarking and material selection during design. Cut emissions with data.

2050 Materials × natureplus: Revolutionising Data

We’ve partnered with natureplus to bring ecolabelled building products into the digital age. By continuously reading their API, we’re integrating verified sustainability data—like health, carbon, and performance metrics—directly into our platform. It’s a major leap forward in the digitisation of environmental data, turning ecolabels into structured, searchable tools for better design decisions.

The Story Behind IndiNature: Rethinking the Future of Building Materials

IndiNature is reshaping construction from the ground up with natural fibre insulation made from UK-grown hemp. Founded by architect Scott Simpson, the company bridges ecological design and industrial scale—offering a renewable, high-performance alternative to conventional insulation. Their flagship product, IndiTherm®, is breathable, carbon-negative, and designed for circularity.

Climate-Resilient Materials for the Built Environment: A Data-Centred Prime

As climate volatility intensifies, resilience metrics are fast becoming as critical as carbon data in material selection. This article outlines why adaptation is now a design imperative, how materials can be evaluated through a systems lens, and what KPIs project teams should demand. From self-healing concrete to fire-rated façades, we present a structured taxonomy of resilient materials, explain how to embed this intelligence into digital design workflows, and propose next steps for specification, benchmarking, and procurement.

Building a Legacy with Hutton Stone

Hutton Stone, a heritage-driven quarrying company led by Marcus Paine, exemplifies how traditional materials can meet modern sustainability demands. From the careful stewardship of quarries to low-carbon innovations like split and sawn stone bricks, Hutton Stone merges architectural legacy with environmental responsibility. As part of the SME Climate Hub and the UK Ethical Stone Register, their operations demonstrate that ecological care and construction excellence are not mutually exclusive—but mutually reinforcing.

How Implenia Uses 2050 Materials for Early Carbon Decisions

Implenia, Switzerland’s largest construction and real estate company, is setting a new standard for low-carbon building by using the 2050 Materials platform during early design stages. For the first time, embodied carbon benchmarks were applied as a formal evaluation criterion in architecture competitions. By integrating real-time carbon analysis with Swiss standards like KBOB and SIA 2032, Implenia was able to make transparent, cost-effective carbon comparisons across design proposals—well before execution. The result: faster decisions, higher sustainability compliance, and a repeatable method for future low-carbon projects.

The Most Interesting Low Carbon Products in Office Design

In this article and collection, we highlight 11 outstanding products that contribute to a lower carbon footprint in office design.

Top Low Carbon Building Boards: Performance, Benefits, and Use Cases

The building boards highlighted in this article and collection showcase low-carbon innovation in modern construction.