Biomaterials in construction: meet the startups reinventing our buildings 

What if the key to a greener future wasn’t in high-tech gadgets or sweeping legislation, but in mushrooms, plant cells, and even food waste? As the world scrambles to combat climate change and reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, a quiet revolution is taking root. Biomaterials, which are derived from biological organisms like plants, animals, bacteria, fungi, and other life forms, are emerging as a game-changer in the construction industry.

In this article, we will explore the various up-and-coming biotechs making a mark in the construction field and how biomaterials could potentially transform a carbon-intensive industry.

Need for change: what do biomaterials have to offer in the construction industry?

It is no news that the construction industry significantly impacts the environment, accounting for 23% of air pollution, 40% of drinking water contamination, and 50% of landfill waste, according to Oizom, an environmental monitoring company. In fact, a 2023 report by the United Nations Environment Programme warned that the building and construction sector accounted for a staggering 37% of global emissions, as materials such as cement, steel, and aluminum have a significant carbon footprint. 

Although these figures are concerning, it’s not all doom and gloom. Biomaterials are pushing through the concrete-heavy industry to make it more sustainable, and quite a few biotechs have been making headway so far.

“Using biological materials in buildings isn’t a new concept – we’ve built wooden structures for thousands of years,” said Gavin McIntyre, co-founder of Ecovative Design, a U.S.-based biotech making materials with mycelium — part of the root system of mushrooms.

Increasing knowledge about microbiology and synthetic biology techniques has allowed innovative biomaterials to enter the construction market, such as self-healing concrete, mycelium insulation, chipboard made of food waste, and artificial mother of pearl.  

“What’s unique about the new generation of biomaterials is that they’re tunable. We can now build unique properties into materials at the molecular level,” said McIntyre in an interview with Labiotech in 2021.

Although there has been interest in developing new biomaterials for building for some time, the construction industry is conservative and heavily price-driven, meaning acceptance has been slow. However, the increasing consumer demand for sustainability has heightened interest in these innovations, resulting in a more competitive environment for building materials.

“The building and construction industry needs disruption,” said Ginger Krieg Dosier, founder of Biomason, a U.S.-based company that grows cement through a biological process with a low carbon footprint.

“Traditional Portland-based cement has not seen disruption in 200 years. Biological solutions provide a new way of manufacturing through understanding the blueprints found in nature as inspiration.” 

Living cement: Green Basilisk takes on Portland cement

Concrete is one of the most widely used building materials in the world. In one form or another, it has been around since ancient times. Concrete is formed by combining fine and coarse particles of materials like limestone and sand — known as aggregate — with a binding material such as cement. 

Portland cement, named after the stone from the Isle of Portland in Dorset, U.K., was invented by Joseph Aspdin and patented in 1824. Made from finely ground and heated limestone and clay minerals combined with gypsum, a component of plaster, it is still the most widely used form of cement today. 

A big problem with the manufacture of cement is that it is highly polluting and produced in such abundance that if the cement industry were a country, it would be the world’s third- or fourth-largest emitter of carbon dioxide, according to a report published by the World Economic Forum in 2024. 

Moreover, while considered a durable material, over time, concrete is subject to cracking, particularly in damp conditions, which can corrode the embedded steel reinforcement bars, especially in water-based structures. It is also subject to damage from extreme temperatures, chemicals, and weather erosion. 

To counter some of these negative effects, several companies are harnessing the power of non-harmful, extremophile bacteria, such as Sporosarcina pasteurii and Bacillus pseudofirmus, to effectively create self-healing concrete. These tough bacteria occur naturally in extremely alkaline lakes near volcanoes and produce their own limestone. Their spores can live for 200 years and withstand temperatures above 200℃.

Delft University microbiologist Hendrik Jonkers had decided to experiment with adding these bacteria to a standard concrete mix to make it more stable more than a decade ago. This led to the formation of the Dutch company Green Basilisk in 2015 to take this product to market. 

Much like a Green Basilisk lizard itself – a lizard that can walk on water when threatened by a predator – its self-healing concrete technology turns water into an advantage. The company’s product, called Basilisk, is an addition to normal concrete that contains bacterial spores. When it is exposed to water, the bacteria start to grow and produce limestone, which fills up the cracks, reduces shrinkage by up to 50%, and makes it more watertight. By adding a mere five kilos of Basilisk into the concrete mix, you can save up to 30 kilos of fuel per cubic meter, according to the company. A gift that keeps on giving, the process can repeat itself again and again.

In a bid to implement sustainable technology in infrastructure, the ARTIS-Aquarium in Amsterdam sought Green Basilisk’s self-healing concrete for a large renovation. The startup has undertaken various projects over the past few years, another one of which was to repair cracks and leakages in the tunnel Buitenvelderttunnel at Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands. 

As traditional repair methods, such as injections, are more expensive and more difficult to apply to narrow concrete cracks, Basilisk was used to fill concrete cracks up to 0.8 mm, making it watertight again. 

New technologies related to biomaterials

• New Nanostructured Biomaterials for Food, Agricultural and Construction – Agricultural University of Athens
• Bio-Based Self-Healing Adhesive – Mississippi Research Consortium
• Infinite Palette: Bio-manufacturing Electromagnetic Materials – University of Huddersfield

Can Biomason and Prometheus materials transform construction into a zero-carbon industry with their biomaterials?

Like Green Basilisk, Biomason uses similar microbes, but has a different process. Inspired by how coral reefs and natural marine cements are formed, Dosier ran with the idea to ‘grow a concrete brick’, and thus, Biocement was created.

The company mixes a solution containing urea, calcium chloride, and bacteria with waste aggregate and forms it into molded tiles, which then cure to full strength in ambient temperatures. This removes the need for high temperatures and fossil fuels during the production process. Biocement is said to be 20% lighter than concrete blocks, yet three times stronger.

The American biotech joined forces with architectural research studio GXN to create Biocement, which was being developed for the past 10 years but did not draw in investors for a very long time.

“Now, we’ve arrived at a moment in time where that’s changing. It’s dawning on a lot of people that we actually have to change,” said architect Lasse Lind, head of consultancy at GXN, in an article by Metropolis. 

Similarly, U.S.-based Prometheus Materials is helping transform construction into a zero-carbon industry with its Bio-Blocks. The engineered Bio-Blocks are made up of microalgae and other materials to build rock-like properties much like concrete. The algae grow with sunlight and produce calcium carbonate, a natural biocement. When exposed to specific temperatures and pressures, the combination of biomaterials forms these Bio-Blocks. This technology has been garnering attention in the building industry of late. It was shortlisted in the sustainable design category of the Dezeen Awards in architecture last year.

Honext’s paper scrap-derived cellulose to be used in Europe’s first carbon-neutral apartment building

It isn’t just biocement that could turn the tide for the construction industry. Materials used for wall cladding and insulation could be swapped out for sustainable products too, such as the Honext Board FR-B. In an effort to transition to a circular economy, the Spanish startup Honext has made construction board material from various enzymes and cellulose obtained from waste from paper mills. 

With the ability to regulate indoor humidity, the material is flame-retardant, absorbent, and can be recycled after use. That’s why it could be ideal as partition walls and acoustic panels. And it’s not just some hype. For the Openly Valley Widnau building project in Switzerland, which is the largest hemp house in Europe, Honext was picked to set up the interior cladding. The two have also teamed up to build the first-ever completely carbon-neutral apartment building in Europe. 

“As a society, we must change the way we build and transform our environment,” the company said in a press release. “We are at a key moment of development change towards a circular model, and we must join in and accelerate the process if we want to reverse the negative effects of climate change on our planet.”

Magic mushrooms: Biohm and Ecovative Design harnessing fungi as a building material

Another promising construction material is mycelium, a biomaterial which forms part of the root structure of mushrooms. That is the focus of Biohm, a U.K.-based startup that develops sustainable and biodegradable materials for the construction industry. 

Utilizing waste products from agricultural and construction industries, the company’s lead product is a mycelium-based insulation panel. A key advantage of mycelium is that it can be grown on waste agricultural products and is biodegradable. It also contains chitin, which is a natural fire retardant.

At the moment, insulation products are predominantly made of petrochemical materials. They are plastic, and at the end of their life, they will most likely end up in landfills.

Biohm is looking to build on the idea of circularity. Biohm grows the mycelium in petri dishes to leverage its dense network – which is used by mushrooms to cover a lot of ground in the forest and absorb food –  to create insulation material that is completely biodegradable. Crates of hemp waste are mixed with mycelium, which is then dehydrated to generate the insulation panels.

“I think we’ve barely scratched the surface when it comes to mycelium. There are so many strains out there that are undiscovered, potentially 1.5 million, and we’ve only touched on about 15,000 or something,” said Ehab Sayed, founder of Biohm, in an interview with the BBC. “There’s so much more to do in the future.”

Another company creating biomaterials out of mycelium is U.S.-based Ecovative Design. It is currently creating packaging by using mycelium to bind agricultural byproducts together, making mushroom leather and foam for a variety of uses, and has also branched out to create meat substitutes using specialty mushrooms via a spinout called MyForest Foods.

Notably, Ecovative was also developing insulation foam for the building industry but has since moved away from this area for undisclosed reasons. This could be related to the lack of acceptance from the industry, something that Biohm has also previously dealt with. 

“Within construction, just overcoming pre-existing biases and pre-existing notions of what an insulation panel is can be a challenge,” said a former spokesperson from Biohm back in 2021. “People ask a lot of questions like ‘Will it start growing in my walls?’ ‘Will it start eating my house?’”

Bio buildings of the future

There are several challenges that need to be overcome before companies can sell biomaterials to the construction industry. To start with, independent certification is required by most countries to comply with safety regulations. This can take considerable time and effort to achieve, depending on the country. 

It took about three to four years for Green Basilisk to get its products certified. For larger projects, contractors don’t always want to get involved with innovations when they have to take on responsibility, according to the self-healing concrete company.

Another issue is scaling up. It is generally much easier to make novel materials on a small scale, and bridging the gap to large-scale production can be a challenge. 

Communication is also key; a big problem in the construction industry is getting consumers to accept innovative biomaterials. Pricing can be problematic too, as the construction industry is strongly driven by costs. If the new material is more expensive than what is already available, it is unlikely to be purchased. 

Approaching this challenge by making a case for the longevity of the product could be the way to go. For instance, with the self-healing technology, you ensure a longer shelf life and less maintenance, according to Green Basilisk. “So, for the end user, it’s already a break-even. But we also want to create a business case for the contractor. By leaving out watertight membranes or special coatings and reducing steel, we can end up with a business case,” said a former spokesperson of the company.

Despite these challenges, the worldwide conversation about global warming and pollution has made many people realize the importance of making industries greener and more sustainable. 

This is already having a positive effect on companies working in the construction industry, as the organizations behind large building projects want them to be greener and more sustainable.  

As global emissions are on the rise, if we don’t move towards a more circular economy in the next few decades, the world will be emitting more waste, and landfills will be filled up quickly. So, it looks like only biomaterials and sustainable products will be able to solve these imminent problems.

Partnering 2030: FME Industries Report

Which food, material, and electromechanical industry companies are perceived most highly by research institutes? Which partnering channels work best? What do institutes want from industry partners?

Download the report