Not just another brick in the wall!
High tech building materials solve environmental headache for water authorities, and local government planners.
Geofusion Ltd has developed a radical new range of high tech, high performance building materials to replace bricks, paving stones and brick-slips (tiles) which offer the opportunity of completely recyclable buildings. One of the key benefits, flexible porosity levels, will have a major impact on reducing the effects of water-damage where these materials are used.
Water authorities and floodplain planners will see the benefits of this new technology, as it can be ‘engineered’ to be as porous as required, enabling buildings to be used as rainwater collection points. Traditional bricks and pavers disrupt rainwater run-off and can contribute to both water shortages and floods. Multiple solutions to this have already been tried but most are beset with problems, the Geofusion product is the first to abandon traditional technology altogether.
“Geofusion’s porous bricks allow water to simply pass straight through to the underlying substrate, to aid drainage and reduce the risk of flooding,” said Geofusion Director Steve Gill.
“Traditional materials currently bleed back to the land or run off to drains that fail, washing contaminants down in the process. Our paver acts as a filtration system - as water passes through, it filters out many of the pollutants sitting on the surface.” Mr Gill explained. “As a result, the grey water collected is of a better quality and can be used for other purposes, off-setting the effect of summer water shortages.”
There are porous building materials on the market already, but they are all based on old-style clay or concrete, which means that they can only be produced by large-scale quarrying and high-energy usage during the baking process. Geofusion’s manufacturing process is non-extractive and non-depletive, and uses 50% less energy during kilning.
“This system can even harvest water which falls onto vertical walls, “said Mr Gill. “It offers improved insulation over traditional products and will also reduce landfill requirements.”
Geofusion technology represents the first major revolution in brick and paving since the Victorian era. Originating from a university research project, it now has high level commercial backing (from Credit Suisse).
The new technology will help contribute to flood prevention and water conservation and management, improve health and safety on pavements and walkways, and help waste management agencies dispose of ‘difficult’ and expensive glass waste (such as coloured glass and de-leaded computer and TV screens).
