He teaches in one of the laboratories of the Center for Effective CTU (UCEEB) and deals with natural building materials. And in recent years he has been devoting his energy to technical hemp. Together with his colleague Barbora Vlasata, they are behind the Hemp House project, which aims to transfer existing knowledge from laboratories into real construction practice. Just this week, they received a two-million grant from Buřinka for their work.
Jakub Diviš has been interested in natural materials since his diploma. He started by comparing thermal insulation, continued with research on unbaked clay and gradually looked for ways to bring natural materials from the fringes of interest to the mainstream. According to him, he repeats to students that sustainability is not a question of a batik T-shirt and feelings, but of technical properties, durability and hard data.
It was the data side of the project that connected him with Barbora Vlasata. She has been working on the LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) method for a long time – that is, evaluating the life cycle of buildings. “It is not about claiming that hemp alone will save the world or immediately displaces concrete. It is important to find out where it makes technical, environmental and economic sense,” she explains. According to her, hemp is ideal where local availability meets low emission intensity.
Hemp building materials are not completely new. There are already insulations or so-called hemp concrete on the market, which is used as a filler. However, Jakub Diviš and Barbora Vlasata see great potential in board materials that could replace wood in construction, for example. “At CTU, they are solving the problem of what to build from, the second winning project from the Buřinky competition focuses on what to do with existing material from demolitions. In the category of smaller projects, the Circular Center Hradec Králové succeeded with its vision of a material preparation plant for building reuse.
“I found out that the current system cannot work with the residual value of materials used once. We know how to do it, we have the technology and people, but the infrastructure and methodology are missing,” says Tomáš Mrkvica, who is behind the project.
Thanks to a grant of 500 thousand crowns will be spent on a model workplace in Hradec Králové, which will capture, sort and prepare materials from demolitions for new buildings. As a pilot project, they want to save 12 tons of material and use it, for example, in the revitalization of the local slaughterhouse.
The entire initiative is being led by the Stavební spořitelna Česká spořitelna Buřinka, whose Innovation in Construction call this year attracted a total of 28 projects. The expert guarantors and key partners of the call are INCIEN – the Institute of Circular Economy and the Partnership Foundation.
“This year, I was particularly interested in projects that are trying to find new building materials with the possibility of local production and a minimal carbon footprint. These are trends in modern construction that will enable affordable housing construction in the long term,” explains Martin Ander, head of the Adapterra program from the Partnership Foundation, who was part of the evaluation committee.
Stanislav Lukáš, member of the Buřinka board of directors, adds: “The grant call for the Innovation from Buřinka platform confirmed that in There are a number of quality projects in the Czech Republic with the ambition to move housing towards sustainability. I think that both supported projects, whether it is a building material made from technical hemp or an innovative use of materials from demolition, have significant potential to bring practically usable outputs and inspiring principles for the entire field.”
The construction industry in Europe produces approximately a third of all waste. If we manage to promote materials that are local and renewable, we will see a revolution in housing, which begins with projects such as those by Jakub Diviš, Barbora Vlasatá or Tomáš Mrkvic.