Accelerator Fund

Funded projects

Holland Houtland has been scaling biobased building through a new blended finance and valuation model. Supported by a grant from Built By Nature, Holland Houtland developed products that enable the project-owners for the development of social-housing projects to construct biobased-material houses. In the video below, Holland Houtland discusses what makes the right conditions for biobased housing projects in the Netherlands in terms of changing the process of selecting the design, build and financing partnerships. Further, the Dutch organsation has created a talkshow-style video, hosted by Lucas de Man, speaking with Holland Houtland founders Chantal van Schaik and Sandra Nap about reducing living impacts on global warming. They adddress the country-based topic “We have to build one million homes and at the same time not contribute to climate change. How is Holland Houtland planning to resolve this?” The video presents Holland Houtland’s programme of 'Opportunity and Comfort' - building for the highest socio-environmental values instead of tendering for the lowest price Building what is required by extending within existing residential areasUsing less, and biobased, materialsBuilding a home aligned with the Paris agreement CO2 budgetAchieving affordable housing through alternative processes of tendering and building Click here for the clip of the video For this and more on Holland Houtland, please visit their website

IAAC – Spanish network and event

The Institute of Advanced Architecture of Catalunya (IAAC), a leading architectural innovation centre located in Barcelona, will establish and coordinate a mass timber network for Spain, and will develop an exhibition with a publication showcasing the state of the art of mass timber in Spain as a foundational resource to accelerate initiatives and projects.

New Model Building

The New Model Building is a set of design principles created by Waugh Thistleton Architects in collaboration with expert fire engineers at UCL and structural engineers at Buro Happold. The methodology explains how engineered timber can be used to construct multistorey residential buildings, in full compliance with UK building regulations. More information to come shortly, meanwhile find out more on CLT here

Timber Accelerator Hub

The ASBP’s Timber Accelerator Hub is working with a network of key stakeholders to overcome the barriers preventing the wider adoption of mass timber across the UK. Read more here

ZeroCarbonFund

ZeroCarbonFund is a collaborative impact-driven financial tool that covers the entire value chain, from forestry to timber construction, to the recycling of timber. It combines public and private funding to reduce CO2 emissions by accelerating and increasing the use of wood in construction and ensuring the planting of new forests. Read more here

For Donors

For Applicants

Donors

Built by Nature brings together an ecosystem of partners, frontrunners and innovative solutions that are able to scale systemic change in the sector. Funders with aligned visions and values are invited to join Built by Nature.

Founding partner:

Become a funding partner

Supporting the Organisation and Network: Contributing to the vision and mission by supporting operational and programmatic costs of Built by Nature.

Supporting the Accelerator Fund: The Accelerator Fund provides a mechanism for donors to pool funds and expertise in the timber building transformation, across the fields of city and building decarbonisation – and land use and forests – in recognition of the fact that the nascent field of regenerative building in unison with nature cannot be built by a single donor. It aims to maximise resources to the field through donor collaboration, increase knowledge of what works in this complex area, and enable agile and experimental approaches in this new field. Donors meeting our minimum contribution thresholds can participate in the fund’s Investment Committee.

Read our donor brochure for further information on how you can get involved.

You will be joining Built by Nature’s founding funding partner, Laudes Foundation, launched in 2020 by the Brenninkmeijer family enterprise to support initiatives that inspire and challenge industry to harness its power for good.

Contact our funding team

Partners

Founding partner

Fund Priorities and Open Challenges

The Accelerator Fund will enable a wide range of initiatives that drive systemic change, working with experts across the Built by Nature network to develop an ‘innovation roadmap’ for the sector. Current priorities include initiatives that: 1) Quantify and compare timber-based vs. traditional buildings on climate, technical, economic and social parameters; 2) Establish innovative policy incentives and/or remove disincentives for sustainable timber buildings.

In addition, the Fund will run ‘Open Challenges’ to the field to raise the bar. Watch this space for our forthcoming call for initiatives that formalise the carbon capture and storage benefits of regenerative timber buildings – working with sustainable forest supply chains.

Application process

If you have a game-changing initiative that fits with the fund priorities or Built by Nature’s broader strategy, please get in touch with our team by submitting the ‘Expression of Interest’ form. If it’s a fit, you will be invited to submit a proposal in our required template. Funding for proposals is decided quarterly.

The next application deadline is June 17th. For more information, refer to the FAQ document.

If you are a team responding to an Open Challenge, you’ll be invited to complete a dedicated form first – the strongest teams and ideas will then be invited to submit a full proposal.

Submit your Expression of Interest

Accelerating the timber building transformation? Our Accelerator Fund is open for applications.

Visit the Accelerator Fund page

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