Meet BD+C's 2023 AEC Innovators

These four companies are attempting to make an impact on the integrity of their supply chains, the reduction of construction waste, and answering calls for more affordable housing and homeless shelters.

By John Caulfield, Senior Editor | March 3, 2023

More than ever, AEC firms and their suppliers are wedding innovation with corporate responsibility. How they are addressing climate change usually gets the headlines. But as the following articles in our AEC Innovators package chronicle, companies are attempting to make an impact as well on the integrity of their supply chains, the reduction of construction waste, and answering calls for more affordable housing and homeless shelters. As often as not, these companies are partnering with municipalities and nonprofit interest groups to help guide their production.

Meet our 2023 AEC Innovators!

New Horizon Urban Mining

Meet the 'urban miner' who is rethinking how we deconstruct and reuse buildings

Michel Baars New Horizon Urban Mining BD+C AEC Innovator 2023

New Horizon Urban Mining, a demolition firm in the Netherlands, has hitched its business model to construction materials recycling. It's plan: deconstruct buildings and infrastructure and sell the building products for reuse in new construction. Read the article.

Turner Construction

Turner Construction extends its ESG commitment to thwarting forced labor in its supply chain

Turner Construction extends its ESG commitment to thwarting forced labor in its supply chain - Turner ESG Summit

The construction giant joins a growing AEC industry movement, inspired by the Design for Freedom initiative, to eliminate forced labor and child labor from the production and distribution of building products. Read the article.

Cassette

Multifamily construction startup Cassette takes a different approach to modular building

Prefabricated modular design and construction have made notable inroads into such sectors as industrial, residential, hospitality and, more recently, office and healthcare. But Dafna Kaplan thinks that what’s held back the modular building industry from even greater market penetration has been suppliers’ insistence that they do everything: design, manufacture, logistics, land prep, assembly, even onsite construction. Kaplan is CEO and Founder of Cassette, a Los Angeles-based modular building startup. Read the article.

Pallet Shelter

Pallet Shelter is fighting homelessness, one person and modular pod at a time

Pallet Shelter is fighting homelessness, one person and pod at a time Vermont VIllage

Everett, Wash.-based Pallet Inc. helped the City of Burlington, Vt., turn a municipal parking lot into an emergency shelter community, complete with 30 modular “sleeping cabins” for the homeless. Read the article.