A collaboration that could indicate a new organizational model for product innovation: Austrotherm, an Austrian manufacturer of EPS and insulation systems, has launched a pilot project together with construction group PORR, facade systems manufacturer Baumit, and start-up ORBIS Development. The stated objective is the joint development of constructive solutions that integrate circular economy criteria, carbon footprint reduction, and lifecycle cost optimization from the design phase onwards.
The project is part of an industrial context in which vertical collaboration along the value chain — from the general contractor to the insulation materials producer to the digital innovator — is still poorly structured. Unlike traditional partnerships based on supply agreements, the consortium model provides for the co-design of building components, with the objective of ensuring compliance with EPD (Environmental Product Declaration) criteria and compatibility with selective de-construction processes already during the development phase.
Particularly significant is the involvement of Austrotherm, which recently commissioned an EPS recycling plant in Purbach with a treatment capacity of 3,000 tonnes per year. The ability to close the material cycle — from end-of-life insulation to recycled granulate reintroduced into production — represents a technical-economic prerequisite for scaling up the solutions developed in the pilot project.
From the perspective of the construction process, the presence of PORR, one of the largest construction groups in the DACH region, allows for validation of solutions under real site conditions, assessing not only technical feasibility but also installation times, compatibility with standard equipment, and long-term maintainability. Baumit, specialized in WDVS systems and ventilated facades, contributes expertise in envelope physics and compatibility between functional layers.
The involvement of start-up ORBIS Development suggests a focus on digital tools for material traceability and information management throughout the building's lifecycle, a crucial element for the practical implementation of the circular building concept. For designers and property managers, the project could provide operational data on the real applicability of design for disassembly logic in residential and tertiary buildings, a sector where the lack of national regulatory references still makes comparison between traditional construction solutions and innovative approaches difficult.
