Back     Latest news from Green Building Press    Subscribe to our newsletter

£50,000 Award For New Green Building Materials

Posted: 04/10/2006

Enter the HGCA Enterprise Awards and you could win a grant of up to £50,000! Established three years ago, HGCA Enterprise Awards for industrial uses support original ideas for using grain. If you run a business with pioneering ideas for using grain, such as in packaging, lubricants, resins, fuels or building materials, then you could be eligible for an award.

HGCA Enterprise Awards have helped over 160 businesses of all sizes with exciting initiatives, both in the UK and aboard, since their launch in 1995. If you have an idea to use grain in a ground-breaking application - for example, in packaging, lubricants, resins, fuels or textiles - HGCA want to hear from you.

Together with illustrating how and why your idea is innovative, your application should demonstrate the potential to generate new and sustained demand for cereals (wheat, barley, oats, rye) or oilseeds by a minimum of 500 tonnes (or 250 tonnes for oilseeds) over the life of the project.

Applications welcome between now and 31st December 2006. Visit www.hgca.com for more information.

Last year a Suffolk-based business won funding to develop a building block made from straw for use in the construction industry. Lignacite Ltd was given a £32,000 grant. The project will increase the use of straw by 12,000 tonnes during the next three years.

Lignacite Ltd, an established business producing blocks containing recycled wood for the construction industry, aims to make a straw-based version to complement this range. Developed in partnership with Styrocrete UK, the blocks offer particular benefits such as good insulation and fire resistance, together with being light in weight. The blocks will also appeal to many architects as they are aesthetically pleasing and are recyclable.

Stephen Hall, Operations Director at Lignacite said: "By producing a straw-based block, we will contribute to the sustainability of products within our industry and will provide an incentive for other manufacturers to follow suit. We are pleased to have been given this Enterprise Award by HGCA for the development of this new product.

"There is considerable interest in green construction materials and we are looking forward to becoming innovators in this field thanks to help from HGCA."

Speaking on behalf of HGCA, Chairman of the Market Development Committee Julian Gibbons said: "Construction materials made from straw represents a real opportunity for cereal growers in the UK to add value to their crop. Manufacturers should also see this as a great opportunity to create new ideas for environmentally focused products. This project is an excellent example of how innovative thinking can help to develop new markets while helping the quest for sustainability in construction. "

Green Building Press  
 

Back     Latest news from Green Building Press    Subscribe to our newsletter

1619