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Companies Like Nexii Are Betting On Sustainable Construction


This article is part of Upstart, a series about startups leveraging new science and technology.

Starbucks last year opened a sustainable structure Drive-through cafe in Abbotsford, British Columbia, about an hour’s drive southeast of Vancouver. The store was the first of its kind to be built in six days with virtually no construction waste, and its components – walls, floor and roof – were so precisely manufactured that when assembled they formed an airtight seal. The creators of the design say it is expected to be cut It reduces the store’s carbon footprint by reducing heating and cooling needs by 30 percent.

It was built by Starbucks store. Nexii Building Solutionsis a Vancouver-based construction technology startup that has become a rising star in the expanding green building industry. Nexii was founded in late 2018 by entrepreneur Stephen Sidwell, who is now its CEO. The company achieved “unicorn” status in 31 months, exceeding $1 billion, making it the fastest company in Canadian history to do so. Nexii.

Although we don’t usually associate climate change with buildings and construction, responsible for almost 40 percent of global energy-related carbon emissionsAccording to the United Nations. about 30 percent The bulk of these emissions come from building operations (primarily heating, cooling and lighting) and another 11 percent “Dependent” carbon is the carbon released during the construction process itself.

Mr. Sidwell created the Nexii after meeting brothers Ben and Michael Dombowsky, who are both inventors and have worked in construction since the 1970s. Over the years, the brothers have been plagued by widespread waste and inefficiency in the industry and, more recently, its effects on the climate.

Michael Dombowsky, now vice president of building technology at Nexii, spent many years experimenting with a variety of efficient construction techniques before eventually creating Nexii’s patented building system. It involves prefabrication of panels for use as part of walls, floors and roofs in a manufacturing facility and then shipping them to a construction site. There, a small team quickly assembles components into a building. Using Nexii’s own data and data from Starbucks’ store development team, he found that this method is 75 percent faster than needed to build these stores, said Gregor Robertson, Nexii’s vice president of strategy and partnerships. and a former mayor of Vancouver.

The building system is based on advanced technology, especially 3D modeling softwareThis ensures extremely precise production.

“Building design software has advanced dramatically in recent years,” said Mr. Robertson. “So we can use augmented reality to navigate an entire building on one screen and look at every little detail to make sure everything fits together perfectly.”

The 3-D digital plans are then sent to a manufacturing facility where the panels are manufactured to exact specifications.

“In the past, construction firms would build a mini model or build directly from paper plans and deal with any problems or errors that came up while building it,” Robertson said. With 3D modeling, all problems appear virtually and are solved long before construction begins.

While prefabricated and modular construction has been around for a long time, “it’s a big trend now,” said Michelle Meisels, a leading engineering and construction practice partner at consulting firm Deloitte (who has no professional affiliation with Nexii). in engineering and construction because it gives companies real control over how they design a building, the materials they use and their ability to reduce waste.”

But the Dombowsky brothers wanted to change more than just the construction process: They wanted to find an alternative to traditional concrete, which is expensive, heavy and has a high carbon footprint.

Gaurav N. Sant, first professor of sustainability at Henry University, said that for more than 150 years, cement, steel and concrete have been the primary materials used for construction, and that in a climate-free world this would not be a problem. He is director of the Samueli School of Engineering and the Carbon Management Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles.

But right now there is an urgent need to reduce emissions, so we need to either manufacture these construction materials differently or replace them with materials with a lower carbon footprint.”

Ben Dombowsky, who is now Nexii’s vice president of product development, has spent 10 years trying to create an alternative to concrete. In 2017, it introduced Nexiite, a proprietary non-toxic building material now used to build Nexii’s panels. The company commissioned Rob Sianchuk Consulting Third-party testing of the panels in British Columbia, and preliminary findings (which still need to be critically reviewed by a third party) showed that Nexiite has a possible 20-36 percent lower range of carbon emissions compared to Portland concrete. , industry standard. And concrete strength test commissioned by Nexii Metro Test and Engineeringalso found that in British Columbia, Nexiite sets faster – takes seven days to arrive maximum power instead of 28 days

The company has some competition from the sizable modular industry in North America, where many businesses claim to use green building materials. However, Nexii uses third-party testing to validate its green metrics and publishes these results on its website. President Nadav Malin buildingGreenWhile it’s not possible to specifically comment on Nexii’s claims about Nexiite, an information and consulting firm focused on the green building industry in Vermont, the company will not disclose the content of the material “if the company “live” while comprehensively centering health and sustainability throughout its processes. Nexii’s customers include a growing number of companies working to reduce or eliminate carbon emissions. According to the nonprofit, one-fifth of the world’s 2,000 largest public companies are now committed to achieving net zero emissions. Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit.

Today Nexii has 400 employees and two manufacturing facilities in Canada. The company plans to grow and scale using a franchise model. approves and licenses local manufacturers in North America to manufacture green building panels. Facility owners will be provided with access to Nexiite as well as the systems and processes needed to manufacture Nexii building panels. Once certified, these manufacturers can market and sell Nexii’s building products in their regions. Ten manufacturing sites in North America are in various stages of development, including another plant in Hazleton, Pa., which opened in October, and another, soon in Pittsburgh. Manufacturers pay license fees and a percentage of their revenue goes to Nexii.

Mr Robertson said the company’s biggest challenge right now is scaling as fast as its leadership and over 1,000 investors want it.

He acknowledged that growing too fast has risks. For example, Katerra, a modular construction technology startup founded in 2015 that has raised more than $2 billion. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last June. One of the issues that led to the collapse of the company was: tried to do it too fast. Despite all the investments, Nexii is not yet profitable. (The company declined to say when it would reach profitability, but said it was a “key short-term priority.”)

“We’re scaling like a software company, but it’s hardware,” said Mr. Robertson. “And it takes time to put facilities together, to get people into the production lines and the assembly process. We don’t want to grow too big and run out. But it’s also a very hungry market.”



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