Lobbying for materials
General description
Materials such as straw or hemp do not have a lobby in the construction sector although they have significant ecological and energetic potentials. This is an approach to popularise and scale up the acceptance and certification of such materials and its use by the industry. It aims at building up contacts between local construction companies and specialised material producers.
Examples
Bombasei Areal
Nanikon, Switzerland
When building with straw, it is necessary to have contacts to local construction companies that, on their side, have contacts to farmers who sell their straw to them. This local value chain can work and should be promoted, but this would not increase the competitiveness of the building material or its establishment on the market. It is not about creating a central market, it is about defining the sources, connecting them, and increasing transparency. There must be representatives and quality management advisors, as well as designers who promote straw as a feasible alternative to other building materials.