Sustainable Ventures runs workspace for climate start-ups, and on the second floor of its Manchester building one wall is laid in Aubrick, our carbon negative earth brick. It was earth4Earth's first project in the UK: 1,200 bricks, built up to the exposed ceiling.
The bricks are a warm, sandy yellow, laid in stretcher bond against white plaster, pale plywood, and a lot of planting. Sustainable Ventures' own figures are mounted on the wall in a plywood panel.
A panel beside the wall explains what it is made of: soil excavated from construction sites, set with lime that is made at room temperature rather than in a kiln. Between them, the 1,200 bricks can take in up to 214 kg of CO₂ from the air, and the lime holds what it takes in. When the wall comes down, the bricks can be crushed and returned to the ground as soil.
