Construction materials can be categorised in many different ways, these days environmental concerns are leading to the development of “green” or sustainable buildings materials which are essential to minimizing the impact of the construction industry on our planet.

Around the world, there are many countries that have turned to much research in the topic and have been able to produce many new sustainable materials. Many have studied old construction materials of the past that were fully natural and are using the concept to create more innovative materials

These materials can be grouped into 2 main groups: recycled materials and renewable materials. Recycled materials are simply materials that could be reused from either one type of material or a composite of different materials. The best known recycled materials are wood, glass, and stones.

Renewable materials are materials that could be produced new but produced from resources that could be very quickly replenished. These resources would include bamboo, cork, etc…These natural resources grow plentiful in large amounts and are able to be used for construction within few years of planting. This greatly helps with the reduction of using hardwood trees that take very long to grow and are slowly disappearing!

I am planning to cover many of these materials and their uses in my future articles, so if interested watch this column and would love to hear your comments.