Nineteen municipalities in Southeast Brabant have made agreements on ‘bio-based building and growing’. With this they want to further promote the use of natural building materials and the cultivation of crops for this purpose.
Biobased materials, such as fiber hemp and miscanthus, fit into the transition to sustainable agriculture, focusing on water and soil quality and biodiversity, among other things. In addition, bio-based building materials have the potential to contribute to climate goals on a large scale.
Mieke Verhees (Eindhoven City Councilor): “As a regional government, we take the responsibility to stimulate sustainable building.” The municipalities ensure a broadening of the possibilities that already exist. “So that this will become ‘the new normal,’” said Verhees.
According to the initiators, the changes in agriculture and the substantial housing task, due to the economic growth of the region, offer a great opportunity for this. Growing crops for biobased building materials in construction is seen as an alternative earning model for farmers who want to produce more sustainably.
Grow
Joep van de Ven (regional administrative leader of the Biobased Building theme and Alderman of the Municipality of Oirschot) “What could be nicer than that the materials for the homes we build in the region also literally grow in the region? At the same time, the use of natural materials contributes to accelerating the transition to sustainable building and reducing CO2 emissions. Some forms of biobased construction store CO2 themselves. A win-win situation.”
To realise all this, the nineteen municipalities in the Eindhoven Metropolitan Region have now jointly set down a number of ambitions and agreements. The province of North Brabant, Water Board Aa and Maas and Water Board de Dommel also support the municipalities. “Van de Ven: “With this we are taking further steps together to put bio-based building and growing even more on the map.”
Stimulate
For example, by increasing the demand for biobased materials and including them in municipal housing policies, the production of the aforementioned crops becomes even more interesting. After all, farmers are only interested if there is sufficient demand for biobased building materials and a more or less guaranteed sale of products.
Moreover, stimulating biobased construction fits within the national ambition to build at least thirty percent of new homes with at least thirty percent biobased materials by 2030.
Source: Studio040
