HOREVAL - Wood recovery and valorisation

Innovative solutions for collecting, storing, repairing and distributing flat bicycle tyres

When structures are demolished, the wood often disappears into landfills. HOREVAL - short for wood recovery and transformation - investigates how that wood can still get a second life after repair, improvement or gluing. This way, the wood's CO2 emissions are reduced and the building sector's material footprint decreases.

The HOREVAL project is working on a new business model in which wood fractions resulting from the demolition of buildings are carefully separated and possibly repaired, improved or glued. Then, that recovered wood is used as a structural element in timber frame construction for new, modular homes. The recovered wood then replaces sawn new wood, which is increasingly expensive and often imported.

A consortium composed with the companies Houthandel Vanhove (Kinrooi) and Martin Vandereyt Houtskeletbouw (Zonhoven) and with the knowledge institute WTCB (Brussels) will develop the intended trajectory in cooperation with demolishers and local custom-made companies in combination with knowledge input from PERITUS, external specialist in circular business models. Together, they aim to substantiate the economic and technical feasibility of the envisaged business model. 

Economically, HOREVAL examines the financial feasibility of the planned conversion - the added value of the social economy is also considered here - as well as the impact on employment in the chain and the overall market potential. Finally, the positive impact on the climate is also assessed. 

More information on the project can be found at www.houthandel-vanhove.be

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