Development of Self-Healing Concrete Moves Closer

Bio-mineralisation is the process by which living organisms can produce minerals. and a possible method to help promote masonry crack remediation. Scientists at the Structural Engineering Research Centre (SERC) in Chennai now believe they are getting closer to developing a ‘self-healing’ concrete for commercial use

Elsewhere, green building start-up bioMason has developed a method for “growing” bricks via the use of bacterial colonies, thus dispensing with the need for energy-intensive manufacturing processes. The biomass bricks also make use of raw materials as cheap and commonplace as salt and yeast extracts, and are capable of recycling waste products such as urea. –

Meanwhile Ecovative, a manufacturing company founded to develop alternate uses for the mushroom mycelium, has developed a microscopic, fibrous fungus which, when bound to agricultural waste, creates a strong, resilient matrix that can be moulded into any shape. Architecture firm The Living and structural engineers Arup were the first collaboration to use the mushroom bricks in a building open to the public. Their fungal tower was on show at MOMA in New York.