Sugarcrete®️ latest updates

School demonstrator in India

February 2024

School Demonstrator India: Building a school extension using Sugarcrete® collaborating with the local plantation communities and state government.

Sugarcrete® database

January 2024 to 2027

Oluchukwu Okonkwo, Sugarcrete® PhD student and researcher, is working on a platform with different Sugarcrete® formulas pre-tested and approved for builders and end users to choose from based on their construction needs.

The platform is an open-source project that can also collect observation data from builders and help University of East London enrich the database and keep improving the product.

Over the tracks project

August 2023 to September 2024

Objectives: To co-create and co-build a community garden in North Woolwich using Sugarcrete®.

Details: Students from UEL’s Architecture Department worked on the “Over the tracks” project, with students from Newvic, the local Newham Sixth Form College, to build a new community garden.

The garden will be built on unused land near Crossrail tracks in North Woolwich. It will include seating, planters and bird houses built using Sugarcrete®.The initiative developed in partnership with Newham Council. The space will be used by the local community centre, the Royal Docks Learning and Activity Centre, and neighbourhood residents to hold community events, and to grow food for the local food bank.

In October 2023, students from UEL and Newvic participated in a workshop to design the seating, planters and bird houses. After that, both students worked on building the structures.

The building phase on the project will last until Spring 2024 and the space will be open to the public from Summer 2024. It is supported by the Greater London Authority, Crossrail, government levelling up funding, and the University of East London itself.

Project collaborators:

UEL’s MA in Architecture students: Sinan Adulaymi, Francesco Stefan, Cristian Severin, Shushant Jadhav, Twinkle Shah, Jason Tshibangu
Newvic college students
London Borough of Newham (Megan Charnley and Sofia Khan)
Tate & Lyle Sugars

Sugarcrete®️ Slab

March to August 2023

In collaboration with Grimshaw, the team built a demountable, reusable, fire resistant composite floor slab called Sugarcrete®️ Slab.

The Slab is one of a series of prototypes developing innovative construction applications which can be applied, disassembled, or extended in new or existing structures. It stems from Grimshaw's interest in interlocking geometries.

Objectives: The aim of the project was to develop ultra-low carbon building components using sugarcane bio-waste (bagasse), allowing the storage of biogenic carbon from fast-growing plants in construction materials as an effective strategy to delay carbon emissions.

Details: Sugarcrete®️ Slab adapts Abeille’s 1699 design for dry assembly flat vaults - the system is made of interlocking components which transfer loads across the slab between blocks, restrained using post-tensioned perimeter ties, reducing the steel content of the slab up to 90 per cent. Reducing steel, combined with the use of sugar cane fibres of different densities in a modular system allows the slab assembly to avoid the potential risks of cracking which occur with traditional concrete in extreme situations, absorbing the effects of seismic shock – a characteristic vital in earthquake prone regions where sugar cane is cultivated.

Prototype testing conducted at UEL's SRI laboratories shows that Sugarcrete®️ Slab can offer an alternative to concrete slabs while demonstrating exemplary environmental benefits including carbon emissions 20 times lower than traditional concrete. The system also minimises curing time to one week compared to standard concrete which takes at least 28 days, it is five times lighter than concrete, and is substantially cheaper compared to concrete production.