There's a lot to think about when choosing construction materials – how they're made, how far they have to travel, how long they'll last. There's no one-size-fits-all solution; instead, at Eden, we try to opt for the best material in each case, weighing up different considerations, including:
Recycled materials
You can find some innovative examples of recycled building materials in the Core: the green tiles in the floor were originally Heineken bottles, the entrance mats are made from recycled truck tyres, and the cafe floor is made of reclaimed wood.
Responsible manufacturers
We talk to our suppliers about how they've manufactured the materials we buy – and in some cases have even asked them to consider doing things differently for us.
For example, the sourcing of the copper for the roof of the Core marked a new approach in the mineral supply chain that pioneered single-source traceability. Rather than obtaining copper on the open market (whose origin is mixed and cannot be determined), we worked closely with the international minerals company Rio Tinto to source it. The copper was tracked from a single source – a mine which had ISO 14001 environmental certification for environmental management systems – across the world to the fabricator KME, in Germany, and from there to its installation at Eden. Find out more in our pdf report.
Low-waste manufacturing
When we can, we go for products whose manufacturing doesn't create unnecessary waste. The beautifully curved beams you can see in the ceiling of the Core were constructed using Glulam (glue-laminated layers of timber), a strong material whose offcuts are used as a fuel.
Fewer materials
Our buildings were designed to need as few construction products as possible. For example, the Biomes' hexagons copy nature’s honeycombs: maximum strength using minimum materials.
Lower-carbon products
Construction materials can result in a lot of carbon emissions, either through an energy-intensive manufacturing process or because they have to be transported a long way to the point of use. Furthermore products sometimes aren't durable, meaning they'll need to be replaced in the near future.