Imagine taking the rubble from demolished buildings — old bricks, glass, gypsum, plastics — and turning over 70% of it into brand-new wall panels for houses and offices. That's exactly what this project did. They developed a modular building block that snaps together like large-scale LEGO, but made mostly from recycled demolition waste instead of fresh concrete. The panels are lighter than traditional concrete, insulate better against heat and noise, and were tested at two real demonstration sites.
Construction generates massive volumes of demolition waste that is expensive to landfill and difficult to recycle into high-value products. At the same time, prefabricated building panels rely on heavy, energy-intensive concrete with poor insulation properties. Builders and renovators need lighter, better-insulating, and more sustainable alternatives that also help solve the waste problem.
The project built an assembled prototype modular building panel containing over 70% recycled construction waste by weight. Key deliverables include a CDW recycling and logistics process, geopolymer matrix from recycled bricks/glass/gypsum, recovered polymer pellets, structural adhesives with integrated CDW fibers, extruded aluminium frame elements, and two completed field trial demonstrations with reports.
If you are a waste management company dealing with mountains of construction and demolition debris headed for landfill — this project developed a complete recycling process that turns old bricks, glass, gypsum, and polymers into valuable raw materials for building panels. The block contains over 70% CDW by weight, creating a high-value market for materials you currently pay to dispose of.
If you are a prefab construction company looking for lighter, better-insulating alternatives to reinforced concrete panels — this project built an assembled prototype panel using extrusion manufacturing, a proven cost-effective and scalable technique. The modular panels were demonstrated at two field trial sites and offer improved acoustic and thermal performance over conventional precast concrete.
If you are a renovation contractor struggling with the cost and weight of traditional insulation and structural upgrades — this project created prefabricated modular panels designed specifically for retrofitting existing buildings. The panels make refurbished buildings safer and more energy efficient while using recycled construction waste, which can help meet green building certification requirements.
The project aimed to achieve cost savings through CDW-sourced materials and cradle-to-cradle design. Since over 70% of the panel is recycled demolition waste, raw material costs should be significantly lower than virgin concrete. However, specific pricing per square meter is not available in the project data.
Yes — the project specifically chose extrusion as the manufacturing technique for all panel components because it is a proven cost-effective, reliable, scalable, and high-yield process. The consortium includes 9 industry partners and 8 SMEs across 8 countries, providing a strong foundation for scaling up production and supply chains.
The project was funded as an RIA (Research and Innovation Action) coordinated by Brunel University London with 16 partners. IP is likely shared among consortium members. Businesses interested in licensing the technology should contact the coordinator through SciTransfer for specific terms.
The prototype panels were demonstrated at two field trial sites — the University of Sannio site and a dedicated TestCell site. Both trials produced formal demonstration reports. This confirms the technology works in realistic conditions, though full-scale building deployment data is not yet available.
Based on the deliverables, the process accepts recycled red bricks, gypsum, glass, and clay for geopolymer matrix production, plus recovered polymers processed into pellets and fibers for structural adhesives. A dedicated CDW recycling process covers identification, transportation, distribution, and storage of valuable waste streams.
The project defined structural, thermal, and acoustic performance targets to be competitive with similar products on the market. Building information modelling and life cycle analysis were used to optimize overall performance. However, specific national building code certifications are not mentioned in the available data.
The project optimized the entire supply chain from CDW sources through processing and fabrication units to the assembly site. A dedicated deliverable covers the recycling, transporting, distributing, and storing process for identified valuable CDWs, suggesting a ready-to-implement logistics model.
This is a strong industry-driven consortium with 16 partners across 8 European countries. With 9 industry partners and 8 SMEs making up 56% of the consortium, the project was clearly designed for market uptake rather than pure research. Brunel University London coordinates, backed by 4 universities and 3 research organizations handling the science, while the majority-industry consortium handles manufacturing, supply chain, and commercialization. The geographic spread across Austria, Cyprus, Greece, Spain, Italy, Poland, Portugal, and the UK provides access to diverse construction markets and CDW streams across Europe.
Brunel University London (UK) — contact through SciTransfer for introductions to the research team
Want to explore licensing this CDW-to-panel technology or connecting with the consortium's industry partners? SciTransfer can arrange a direct introduction to the right people.
