The new product has been developed in Scotland by Kenoteq, and uses construction waste in its formation
The British Board of Agrément (BBA) has certified the recycled bricks, allowing them to be used in construction projects.
The product, named K-Briq, uses waste gathered from construction projects and demolition in nearly 100% of its creation process.
Recycled bricks were brought through a decade of research
Professor Gabriela Medero, Heriot-Watt University, is the innovator of the idea, having spent over 10 years researching and developing low-carbon material solutions for construction. Hamilton Waste & Recycling also helped in this research.
The process for the creation of the K-Briqs sees a collection of construction waste, meaning that 90% of the bricks are made of recycled aggregates such as old bricks and rubble, and then recycled plasterboard is added to increase the recycled materials used in each brick to >95%.
Then instead of being fired, the bricks are pressed through hydraulic compression, and then cured rather than fired as traditional bricks are, and the bricks are ready for use 24 hours later.
Carbon reduction is a key issue in the UK at the moment as the construction industry, responsible for 25% of the UK’s total greenhouse gas emissions (as of 2022-23), and in February this year the Climate Change Committee laid out its seventh carbon budget, predicting that 50% of UK homes will be heated by heat pump by 2040, and calling for improvements to all home insulation.
“The construction industry is under increasing pressure to reduce its environmental impact”
Sam Chapman, co-founder and executive director of Kenoteq, said: “This certification marks the arrival of a truly transformative building material for the construction and interior design industries. Unlike approaches that simply treat the symptoms of construction’s environmental impact, the K-Briq addresses the root cause by directly tackling the waste crisis while delivering a product that performs exactly like traditional materials, including the clay brick.
“Securing BBA certification allows our product to be specified with confidence on commercial projects across the UK.
“The construction industry is under increasing pressure to reduce its environmental impact while maintaining high standards of quality and safety. The BBA certification of the K-Briq demonstrates that these goals are not mutually exclusive – we can build better while building greener.”
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