“If we really want to innovate, we need the guts to share knowledge’’

Sustainable construction is in the spotlight. Climate change, high energy prices and imminent depletion of minerals are forcing European builders to take circular and biobased materials seriously. This directly affects the building materials trade, as Arjan Ahout and Tom Swinkels, owners of BouwCenters in Eersel and Lieshout, the Netherlands, realised. They took a radical step, opening a joint branch in Eindhoven and established an entirely new showroom under the brand name Bouwgroen (Building Green).

It all started with a dream: to create a sustainable ‘’test room‘’’ where not only circular or biobased materials would be available, but also the most sustainable variants of traditional building materials. Colleagues reacted somewhat laughingly a when Arjan Ahout explained his motivation for his ambition: ‘I want to make a better world for my children’.

‘Maybe I came up with my idea too early,’ he says now. ‘But we are now receiving architects and housing associations who are increasingly keen to know more about this. So, we are investing in building knowledge but also noticed that we were not always able to respond to the new demand with our existing product range.’

That changed when the company EkoPlus Bouwstoffen BV came up for sale last year and was offered to the BouwCenter Organisation in Gorinchem. Ahout and Swinkels seized the opportunity and bought it. Ekoplus was founded some 20 years ago by Dutch architect Emanuel Laugs. He wanted to practice sustainable building but got frustrated by the meagre supply of ecological building materials available at regular builders merchants and started his own company.  ‘By taking over Ekoplus, we suddenly had all the products and knowledge under one roof,’ says Ahout. ‘That opened a lot of doors to serious discussions with customers.’

The upper floor of BouwCenter Van Hoppe & Swinkels was set up as the Bouwgroen showroom, with a mural that paints an artisticpicture of the future, and cabinets, stools and information panels made from recycled cardboard. It proved to be an ideal conversation starter, which could be realised at a comparatively small investment of around 15,000 euros. ‘If we had had everything made out of wood and metal, it would have cost eight times as much,’ says Tom Swinkels.

Besides being an affordable eye-catcher, the new showroom also underlines the pioneering role of BouwCenter Van Hoppe & Swinkels. ‘Customers like to drop in on us,’ says Swinkels. ‘They want to soak up all our knowledge, because they all must deal with it. And although with us too the knowledge still must grow internally, the market is moving with us. On the other hand, we are not an advice centre, we primarily have to sell.’

The products sold in the new showroom are not based on fossil, finite raw materials, but on renewable and reusable (bio)resources. Think wood but also blocks of lime hemp or slabs of loam, as an alternative to concrete whose production is very energy-intensive. Or think of insulation with wool, flax, paper or recycled textiles, as an alternative to glass or rock wool. Or biobased paints and coatings, or vapour-proof sheets made from recycled plastics. Visitors are astounded by the ever-growing range of biobased and circular materials on offer.

One of the remarkable materials in the Bouwgroen showroom is Rebrick. These are bricks recovered from old demolition houses. In this way, a 95% CO2 saving is achieved compared to using new bricks. Rebrick is an initiative of four BouwCenters, namely BouwCenter Concordia, Esselink, Floris and Van Hoppe & Swinkels.

Unlike new factory bricks, reclaimed ‘rebricks’ are not uniform in shape or colour. They sometimes have bumped-off corners or have holes from screws from which a washing line or planter was once hung. ‘Some contractors who see them prefer to hide them away in an old back wall somewhere,’ says Swinkels. Reclaimed bricks, however, are meant to be used in plain sight: in the facade of the house. They add a natural lived-in character to new-build houses. ‘Clients in the Netherlands usually love that. We are even asked if we have more of these bricks with holes or graffiti marks.’

Incidentally, recycled bricks are not cheap. This is because of the labour-intensive ‘harvesting’. Klinker Historica, a partner in Rebrick and harvester of the bricks, employs some 60 workers who manually loosen, brush and repackage the stones in shifts. In the meantime, demolition work sometimes lies idle for days. It means reused bricks end up costing twice as much as new factory bricks.

According to Swinkels, Rebrick is an answer to the huge waste stream from the construction industry. ‘It can form the basis for new buildings again.’ It is a perfect fit with the European ambitions of circular construction and is in line with the broader trend towards more sustainable, reusable materials. Ahout emphasises that Rebrick stones have now been included in the Dutch National Environmental Database. A DoP is also available.

By opening the Bouwgroen showroom, the initiators hope to inspire others. Ahout: ‘We have not just put up products, but a complete story. You can see, feel and experience here that building sustainably is already possible.’

‘The only way to really make an impact is by helping each other,’ Swinkels adds. ‘Not keeping everything to yourself but sharing knowledge and accelerating together.’

That thought fits with the philosophy behind Rebrick and Bouwgroen. Ahout aptly sums it up: ‘Change doesn’t start with rules or subsidies, but with guts: have the audacity to just do it.’ With the showroom and the launch of Rebrick, a first step has been taken. But the real challenge lies beyond the walls of Bouwgroen: in the transformation of the entire construction sector.

https://www.bouwcenter.nl/bouwgroen/
https://re-brick.nl/
https://www.bouwcenter.nl/van-hoppe-swinkels/