With sustainability becoming a non-negotiable stipulation in contemporary design briefs, architects up and down the country are constantly hunting for the lowest-carbon material options available.
Putting this in wider context, NBS’s recent Sustainability Futures Report found in a poll that 88% of specifiers regarded environmental sustainability as an important project criteria, with 79% regarding this value as very important to them on a personal level.
As such, it’s no wonder we’re currently witnessing a sea change within the UK architectural community towards green design, and a growing preference to building products manufactured according to circular principles.
One new, highly innovative material, recently launched in the UK, and solely available from leading materials distributor, James Latham Ltd (Lathams) is HONEXT®.
A carbon-neutral, 100% recyclable, high-performance substrate cladding for commercial and residential interiors, HONEXT® is a pioneering product developed in collaboration between Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya researchers and Barcelona-based manufacturer, the Merino family.
Produced from waste fibres and cellulose residue from the paper industry, it’s a game-changing, lightweight construction panel, which upcycled this previously useless run-off material, using a proprietary biotech process, to achieve a fully recyclable, non-toxic board.
Suitable for interior wall and ceiling linings, and other non-loadbearing applications, HONEXT® is unique in its category as Cradle-to-Cradle Silver Certified, and its benefits extend far beyond its upfront sustainable attributes.
A high-performance material, it possesses strong thermal conductivity, vapour permeability, resistance to moisture and optimal acoustic performance. On this latter attribute, HONEXT® Panels are specifically designed to feature better sound absorption properties than traditional building materials, making them well-suited to busy, noisy commercial environments.
The panels also promote better indoor air quality, as they contain no added VOCs and are Material Health Silver Certified.
HONEXT® is already specified on a number of projects in Spain and continental Europe, its potential to help deliver sustainable and cost-effective design solutions increasingly being realised by specifiers globally.
In a recent, high-end retail project, the panels were used to replicate fluted concrete walls when concrete would have been extremely heavy, highly unsustainable, and very costly for application in a commercial unit.
Here, the HONEXT® sheets were bonded together, deep grooves made and then painted, creating a lightweight, sound-absorbing wall that looks identical to fluted concrete.
Demand for the material is also growing in the commercial office sector, where its sound absorption capabilities are being realised by fit-out professionals. In a recent workspace project for Spanish construction firm Construcía, HONEXT panels were specified for suspended ‘sound islands’ and ceilings to improve the interior acoustics.
On this occasion HONEXT met all the client’s requirements for a cradle-to-cradle certified solution, as well as achieving optimal acoustic levels and a comfortable and pleasant working environment.
More sustainable and easier-to-work than many other panelling materials, HONEXT® is a game-changer, particularly for applications such as retail fit-out, exhibitions, set decoration and staging, as the product can be shaped, painted, bonded, and laminated, offering a greater degree of flexibility for architects, designers and specifiers.
Building on other recent forward-thinking initiatives, including the Carbon Calculator and Digital Showroom, the introduction of HONEXT® represents the latest step in Lathams aim to be the country’s most innovative and eco-friendly materials distributor.
It’s yet another proof point of Lathams direct support of the UK’s specification community, helping them meet every green layer of their design briefs.
To find out more about HONEXT® click here