Hanif Kara is calling for calm. It's true; in the hierarchy of building materials, long-standing stalwarts are facing a major image crisis. It’s not difficult to see why. As the construction and real estate sectors battle to reduce their colossal carbon footprints, non-renewable materials harbouring high levels of embodied carbon such as concrete and steel are problematic in their current form.
In the midst of the frantic race to build better, the world-renowned structural engineer flags that we are at the start of a 20-year transition period. One that will not only see natural materials being deployed more frequently, but which will allow for necessary research and testing to be done to “clean up” others he believes are being unfairly vilified.
