In NL bricks are learning to breathe.
A green-tech innovation is transforming ordinary buildings into living walls – by designing bricks that invitier moss to grow directly on their surface.
Yes — there is a (main) Dutch-relevant company involved in making green building bricks that absorb CO₂ — and it’s connected to a well-known brick manufacturer active in the Netherlands:
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Vandersanden (Belgian-Dutch brick maker)
- Product: Pirrouet® — a CO₂-negative facing brick that absorbs CO₂ permanently during curing and over its life cycle.
- How it works:
- The manufacturing process uses carbonation technology so that CO₂ binds into the brick rather than being emitted.
- Each tonne of Pirrouet bricks can absorb around 60 kg of CO₂.
- The bricks have been specified in projects such as the Groen Nobelhorst sustainable neighbourhood in Almere, Netherlands.
- Company context: Vandersanden is one of Europe’s larger brick producers, with operations supplying the Dutch market and projects in the Netherlands.
So while Vandersanden itself is headquartered in Belgium, its Pirrouet® bricks are being used in Dutch projects and represent one of the most tangible examples of build-material innovation in the region that actively absorbs CO₂.
🧱 Other related innovations (not specifically Dutch companies, but part of the same ecosystem)
These aren’t Dutch companies per se, but they illustrate the broader direction in sustainable bricks and blocks:
- Carbstone – a CO₂-negative block product made from secondary materials that continues to absorb CO₂ and is fully recyclable. (Belgian company)
- Projects under research such as biobased building blocks using plant residues (grass, sugar beet pulp etc.) are being developed by consortia including Dutch partners like TNO and local SMEs.
Summary
✅ Vandersanden’s Pirrouet® bricks are currently one of the clearest examples connected to the Dutch building market of green construction bricks that absorb CO₂.