EstraHub brings together collaborators and the three Estra subgroups to develop a range of ecological initiatives for the built environment, including engagement with Horizon Europe R&D funding. This is to improve the way in which our buildings and infrastructure are created, to better support climate justice and ecosystem wellbeing. Through international collaboration we are already working on sites in a diverse range of locations including Belgium, Italy, Portugal, Istanbul, Ukraine, New Zealand and the UK. We are also developing strategies to improve equality for the global south and vulnerable communities, with a particular focus on partnerships between Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Our aims are centered around the following three key objectives:

Enable regenerative co-creation

Enable the development of regenerative strategies for climate adaptation, mitigation and resilience in the built environment. EstraHub works to prevent harm to the environment, although we favour strategies that have a positive impact on ecosystems. We follow a collaborative co-creation ethos, working with a broad range of disciplines including academics, scientists, technology developers, entrepreneurs, laypeople, designers, consultants and government officials. We would normally work with other design consultants to enhance and optimise their projects. For example, in a large retrofit / renovation project, we can focus on one aspect (such as the windows, skylights, Building Integrated PhotoVoltaics (BIPV), PhotoVoltaic Thermal panels (PVT) or elements made from clay, stone or biobased materials). We work on R&D projects (such as those funded by Horizon Europe) where international collaboration overcomes scientific and technological uncertainties and improves the way in which we create the built environment. The way in which we work depends on the Technology Readiness Level (TRL). Between TRL 1 and TRL 5 our focus is on facilitating concept definition, visualising applications of technology and developing roadmaps for commercialisation and upscaling. Around TRL 5 we facilitate the validation process (e.g. new technologies demonstrated within a pavilion or a small part of a renovation / retrofit project). From TRL 6 to TRL 9 our main focus would be demonstration within operational environments.

EU definition of Technology Readiness Level (TRL) PDF download.

Facilitate education, training and citizen science processes

Although we value scientific development within R&D projects, a crucial part of technology development is social engagement, because how people think about and use their spaces has a significant impact on how efficient or effective our built environment actually is. Therefore we facilitate co-design, training and citizen science processes that place laypeople from the local community at the heart of development processes.

For the challenges that architecture faces today, some of the most effective solutions have their roots in traditional building techniques. For example, the properties of clay and stone or biobased materials such as wood and bamboo have significant potential to be more fully exploited, or developed in conjunction with the latest technological advances. Although these types of materials may often be associated with vernacular buildings, the reality is that there is increasing recognition that these materials can play a part in large-scale industrialised construction systems, and can be used to contribute to a range of aesthetic types, including minimalist designs.

The education of recent generations of built environment professionals has often lacked empirical teaching on the properties of traditional building techniques. Therefore, EstraHub includes within education aims the need to communicate the Intangible Cultural Heritage that is the wisdom found in traditional building techniques, so that it can be passed to future generations. EstraHub takes this as a basis for sustainable development. For example, ancient techniques for joining timber without steel or adhesive can be developed in conjunction with digital techniques to enable reversible joints in new biobased materials, such as products derived from hemp, sisal, miscanthus, flax, mycelium or aquaculture etc.

Clay and stone both have excellent circularity credentials, and can contribute to passive strategies for thermal comfort due to their thermal mass. Each have specific properties that can allow excellent performance: Clay helps to stabilise humidity inside buildings – avoiding extremes of humidity is good for the wellbeing of occupants and the building itself. Stone often has high compressive strength, which allows for optimal compression-only structures via the latest advances in digital modelling, or in combination with advances in steel manufacturing to create pre-tensioned / post-tensioned structural elements.

As such, these materials are now being developed for use in more industrialised systems so that they can be more easily integrated with steel and concrete site processes or prefabrication. Clay, stone and biobased materials are relatively accessible to lay-people, and as such represent opportunities for entrepreneurs in the local community. Both the industrialised prefabrication strategy and the localised community approach are within our scope.

EstraHub recognises the ability of data to progress science and also assist education and citizen science processes. We use Building Information Modelling (BIM) as our default process for the design, coordination and implementation of projects. BIM can serve as a basis for digital twins and other data visualisation techniques that can be used to clarify for experts and laypeople how the performance of buildings and infrastructure can be understood during co-design, construction, commissioning and post-occupancy evaluation.

We collaborate with digital specialists in order to progress digital tools and workflows. This is done in alignment with The Cultural Heritage Cloud – or “European Collaborative Cloud for Cultural Heritage” (ECCCH), which is a European Union initiative for the creation of a digital infrastructure that will connect cultural heritage institutions and professionals across the EU. It will develop specific digital collaborative tools while removing barriers for smaller and remote institutions. We have also initiated discussion with the European Space Agency on interfacing with their Destination Earth initiative (DestinE), which aims to agglomerate digital twins to form an overall digital twin assembly of the entire planet. We have discussed with the ESA our aims to integratate data from a number of 4D digital twins developed with our collaborators, in order to further goals for climate neutrality, resource efficiencies and ecosystem wellbeing.

Establish Innovation Hubs

EstraHub is taking the first steps to establish Innovation Hubs that will act as centres of excellence for co-working, training and knowledge exchange amongst innovators and actors within built environment value chains.

Each Innovation Hub will include an archive / library, lecture theatres and spaces for events / exhibitions to support our wider educational objectives. These hubs will share resources with other organisations, such as conference facilities and workshop spaces for prototyping and testing.

As wellbeing and resilience is a key criterion, the first hub will be sited adjacent to agricultural land where innovations in organic / bio agriculture will be demonstrated. Residues from these will be combined with biomass from nearby marginal land (not suitable for food production) to enable the prototyping and production of biobased materials. The hubs will develop and demonstrate techniques for resource efficiency and environmental wellbeing, including Renewable Energy Systems, energy storage and water systems.

Each Innovation Hub will also act as a Living Lab to test and validate innovative techniques for the adaptation of buildings. By demonstrating new materials, techniques and technologies within the renovation process, visitors will be able to better understand the diversity of passive and active techniques available for building retrofit and construction.

Want to get involved? If so, you would be welcome to review our services or contact us to discuss.