Designers delve into our materials during corona
EXIE - experts in healthy houses is a Belgian producer of a complete range of insulation solutions based on hemplime and straw flakes. The (pilot) projects in which the manufacturer is involved are almost uncountable and EXIE's patented concept can now also be found outside our borders, in the Netherlands, Poland and Spain, but also in Australia and the United States. We were able to see for ourselves how fast the start-up is going when we scheduled an interview. Several phone calls later, Bart d'Haese is finally sitting down with us. He apologizes for the long wait - "business prevails" - as does a fascinating account of EXIE's journey so far.
Bye Bart. It must be almost easier these days to get hold of Marc Van Ranst than either of the two founders of EXIE - experts in healthy houses for an interview.
"Talking to you has taken much longer than I had hoped, but we are really up to our ears in work and business takes precedence. A number of (pilot) projects in which we are involved are in their final stages and government agencies too want their building projects to be more and more circular and bio-based and are increasingly calling on our products or expertise to do so. This is one of the few moments of rest in recent months."
Exactly what products are we talking about?
"EXIE creates circular, natural and vapor permeable solutions for insulation in both renovation and new construction projects. In doing so, we always start from the same two basic products: CaNaDry and EXIE Fibres, hemplime and straw flakes respectively. Even though we were on the innovation stand of VIBE vzw and Pixii at BATIBOUW 2020, we noticed that it is not easy to get these innovative materials and concepts approved by government agencies such as VEA and WTCB or within the framework of EPB. This is especially true for our hemplime dry building system CaNaDry, with which we fall between the existing ways of testing and are somewhat pushed into a corner. Even though we can demonstrate both the thermal and acoustic values of CaNaDry through testing at the WTCB, for VEA the lambda value of our lime hemp blocks is the same as that of light concrete, which of course leads to the necessary questions and discussions. Fortunately, there are a lot of architects, engineering firms and EPB experts who are willing to give new materials, including ours, a chance based on the existing attestations and empirical tests, such as BAST architects & engineers, Architectengroep Barchi, BLAF Architects, de baes architects... All EPB files for CaNaDry and EXIE-Fibres are now ongoing at the WTCB and in January 2021 very extensive testing will be done in collaboration with a construction team including BAST architects & engineers and B&R Bouwgroep. This will involve testing our products in all possible combinations with other building materials in terms of acoustics, thermal, airtightness and so on. OVAM and Real Estate Heritage, among others, recognize the added value of such testing by a circular construction team."
What is your overall vision when it comes to circular building? For example, do you believe that the innovative principle will ever break through completely?
"We firmly believe that we can spread the knowledge about circular building much faster if we collaborate with as many companies as possible to create ready-made solutions for builders, architects and contractors - without prioritizing commercial interests! Circular construction has fortunately been receiving enough attention for some time through various channels, such as Circubuild, for example, to create awareness initially, not only among private individuals but also and especially among decision makers and developers. A gradual switch from traditional to more circular building principles is, in our opinion, the way to go. Changing everything all at once is utopian. Rome wasn't built in a day, either. And yet a lot of the oldest buildings from that city still stand right there. What kind of materials were they built with back then, do you think? Not with glass wool or PUR. That's something to think about..."
As a young company, what do you experience as the biggest challenge?
"That answer ties in with what I just said; although the materials hemplime and straw have been around for centuries and have proven their worth in construction projects, many architects think they are a labor-intensive and often expensive solution. With EXIE, however, we are proving that the healthy materials of yesteryear can be produced quickly and within budget in modern construction. Getting everyone convinced of that is our biggest challenge."
Are you, especially as a start-up, actually experiencing consequences of the corona crisis?
"It certainly remains busy enough. And we find that during the corona crisis, many architects and engineers are finally taking the time to learn about circular construction and the current standards around it. Interest in healthy materials is rising sharply. All through the crisis we have been getting inquiries."
We already brought some articles on circubuild.be with the Potterij and the Maggies of DMOA architects about (pilot) projects you are involved in. But so there are others?
"That's right. We are also involved in the RecurWood project of WTCB and WOOD.BE with the support of VLAIO, which wants to carry out a complete screening around wood construction in order to arrive at, among other things, new standards developments and the creation of a construction atlas with proven ready-to-use concepts for wood construction. We are also sharing our expertise in the To Bio or Not To Bio project. This project of the Building Physics research group of Ghent University, Odisee campus Aalst, the WTCB and a core group of companies is investigating the potential of bio-based insulation materials in order to ultimately develop a digital knowledge tool that maps material performance and application possibilities of bio-based insulation materials and weighs them against known materials. In addition, 3D scale models are being designed and built in that project in cooperation with VDAB that can be used in training courses and workshops. In the context of Dutch Design Week 2021, we have set up a development project, Harvest Bay, with one of our Dutch partners, Jansen by ods, to investigate the trend toward smaller living without loss of quality of life and to put together a modular and circular model for it. Target groups include the healthcare sector, social housing, cooperatives and temporary housing projects."
What does the future look like for EXIE, short- and long-term?
"The rapid growth our company has experienced recently proves that it absolutely makes sense to continue along the path we have taken: to propose targeted solutions for every possible building application that respects people and the environment with a number of our own innovative products together with our construction partners. EXIE wants to integrate a climate-friendly,CO2-neutral and circular insulation concept into today's building culture where efficiency, speed of execution and budget control are key. In the short term, we want to incorporate CaNaDry and EXIE Fibres in both renovation and new construction projects by working closely with our partners. We are also open at all times to working with other manufacturers, companies, architects, contractors and organizations to find the best combinations and solutions through testing, studies and the exchange of experience."
Thank you, for this interview, Bart.
"You're welcome. I hope we can sit down together again soon in a normal way instead of being so coronaproof!"
