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What is the main obstacle to the transition toward a lower-carbon built world today? In the AEC sector, it is increasingly less about technical feasibility or the availability of alternatives. More often than not, the challenge stems from misinformation and fragmentation across the industry.
In this context, even before new materials are considered, the sector must overcome a subtler barrier: the perception that alternatives are risky or impractical compared to established systems. Conventional materials remain the default—not because they are better, but because they are familiar and widely trusted.
Architect and head of GXN Innovation at 3XN, Kåre Stokholm Poulsgaard, observes that many environmentally conscious ideas are set aside because they seem difficult to integrate into established project structures: “People don’t kill ideas off because they don’t like biogenic materials or low-carbon solutions,” he explains. “They kill them off because they seem too risky, tricky, or simply unknown to handle. We need to make these decisions easier by bringing better information together at the right point in the development process and managing the collaborative effort of assembling it.”
Reducing this perceived risk requires something the sector still lacks: stronger collaboration and more effective knowledge sharing.
AEC professionals are accustomed to coordinating complex design processes across multiple disciplines. Yet emerging priorities such as carbon accounting, circularity, and material traceability are expanding the expertise required in projects, adding new layers of knowledge to established workflows.
As Poulsgaard points out, much of this discussion must happen earlier in the development process, when many of the most consequential decisions are made: “A lot more of this has to happen earlier during the development stage because that is when the key decisions are made. If you want to champion transformation, it will be much easier if it has already been considered during the business-case stage, which does not traditionally include architects.”
This shift requires closer collaboration among architects, developers, engineers, consultants, and other specialists involved in early-stage decision-making.
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For Kritika Kharbanda, Head of Sustainability at Henning Larsen, collaboration goes beyond coordination within individual project teams. It also involves the wider circulation of knowledge across the industry.
In early design phases, her team often uses preliminary life-cycle assessments to estimate the environmental impact of different material strategies. Yet data alone is rarely sufficient. Clients also need concrete examples to understand how alternative materials perform: “A lot of the time it's just taking the clients by the hand and showing them alternatives,” she explains, often through case studies that illustrate what is possible.
Kharbanda therefore emphasizes the importance of global knowledge exchange—sharing successful applications of bio-based materials across regions and markets. This exchange should extend beyond architects to include developers, contractors, and manufacturers, who play a critical role in advancing scalable solutions.
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Architect and professor at the Royal Danish Academy, and Head of CINARK, Anne Beim highlights another dimension of collaboration often overlooked: the exchange of knowledge between design professionals and skilled craftspeople and builders. While efforts are underway to integrate low-carbon materials into mainstream construction through more standardized systems, much practical expertise—especially with natural materials—remains with those who work with them on site.
Bringing these perspectives together improves understanding of material performance and opens new possibilities for innovation. As Beim argues: “To make a difference right now for the use of biogenic materials would be to provide a proper backdrop for research and knowledge exchange, both internationally but also among the different stakeholders in the building industry that need to be brought together.”
Overcoming today’s fragmentation therefore requires environments where knowledge can be accumulated, structured, and shared across disciplines.
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Along similar lines, Jan Wurm, professor at KU Leuven and former Head of Research and Innovation in Europe at ARUP, sees the structural fragmentation of the AEC sector itself as one of the greatest barriers to effective collaboration.
As projects grow more complex, design and construction processes are increasingly divided into specialized areas. Buildings are broken down into independent systems managed by different actors with their own incentives. This fragmentation creates complex supply chains and makes integrated decisions harder. “The big challenge today is the fragmentation of how we design, procure, and build,” Wurm explains.
Moving toward more regenerative and sustainable built environments therefore requires establishing common ground between disciplines: “We need to focus on finding common ground by establishing a clear understanding of what the building needs to do and how it can contribute to regenerative outcomes. We need shared incentives to make this transition happen and make more effective use of digital tools to enable integrated models.”
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A smoother transition toward lower-carbon and bio-based construction will depend on more than materials or regulations alone. As the voices in this conversation suggest, it ultimately depends on how effectively knowledge flows across the industry. Better information, earlier collaboration, shared expertise, and aligned incentives are essential to making this shift possible.
In many ways, the sector already holds much of the experience needed to move forward. The challenge now lies in connecting that expertise across disciplines, sectors, and regions, and embedding collaboration more deeply into how buildings are designed and delivered.
Digital platforms can play a growing role in this shift. By bringing material knowledge into shared workspaces, AEC teams can collaborate across disciplines and locations, organize research collectively, and make more informed decisions earlier in the design process.
Tools such as revalu Spaces support this approach, allowing teams to structure, share, and reuse material knowledge across projects, turning fragmented experience into shared intelligence.
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