When Aleyna Gültekin began her architectural studies in Turkey, her education revolved around functionality and aesthetics. Sustainability, however, was barely part of the conversation. It wasn’t until she arrived in Barcelona to complete her master’s at the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia that she discovered the construction industry is responsible for roughly one third of global carbon emissions.
“As soon as I became aware of that, I wanted to do something about it because I felt really responsible for every decision that I was taking,” she told us on the Beyond the Bubble podcast.
The result is Nera Eco Construction, a Barcelona-based startup transforming wood waste into high-performance insulation panels. Nera upcycles sawdust – the powder byproduct of timber processing – combining it with natural binders using 3D-printing to create highly insulative panels. Designed for both new builds and retrofits, the panels aim to reduce construction time while also locking CO2 into buildings.
“Imagine buildings becoming carbon sinks, basically,” Gültekin says.
As the EU pushes for greater adoption of mass timber construction to decarbonise the sector, wood use is increasing – and with it, wood waste. Nera captures value from this growing byproduct stream and redirects it into circular construction solutions.
But Gültekin is quick to point out that sustainability in construction is still often treated as a premium add-on. That’s why for Nera, affordability is non-negotiable. After all, “the main audience that is being really affected by energy inefficiency is the people who are not even able to [afford to] cool or warm their homes,” she notes.
In addition, she told us about her personal journey to becoming an entrepreneur, the biggest mindset shifts that has required, her experience of building a company in Barcelona, and the advice she would give to herself if she was starting from scratch again.
We also discussed her ambitions for Nera Eco Construction in the months and years ahead, and where she’d like to see the construction sector evolve towards when it comes to sustainability.
Link to the episode and full transcript below.
Transcript
Siobhan Parnell, co-host of 150sec: Beyond the Bubble: Hello, and welcome to the Beyond the Bubble podcast, where we share the stories of underdog entrepreneurs and innovators who are forging their own paths in emerging European markets and beyond. I’m your host, Siobhan Parnell.
Today, we’re joined by Aleyna Gultekin. She’s the founder of NERA Eco-Construction. Aleyna is an architect by training. She completed her master’s in architecture at the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia in 2023.
It was during this time that she became aware that the construction industry is responsible for one third of global carbon emissions. This realisation sparked her to launch NERA Eco-Construction, a sustainability-focused construction company, which she’s going to tell us more about today, as well as her journey as a founder. Aleyna, thank you so much for joining us today.
Aleyna Gültekin, founder of Nera Eco Construction: Thank you so much for having me. I’m really looking forward to this conversation with you, Siobhan.
Siobhan: I am too. So, well, let’s just get straight into it. Could you tell me a little bit more about what inspired you to launch NERA Eco-Construction?
Aleyna: For sure, of course. So I’m originally from Turkey, and as you mentioned, I’ve moved to Spain to do my master’s in architecture. But when I was doing my bachelor’s, my education was really focused on the functionality and the aesthetics of design and everything that we do in architecture. But I always felt that something was really missing, but at the time I couldn’t pinpoint what was missing for me. But when I started doing the master’s here in Spain, I realised that the construction industry has a huge impact that most people don’t know.
Even as an architect, I didn’t have awareness at the time, because usually people are more aware of the impacts of maybe the aviation industry or plastics industry, but the construction industry has a much more significant impact that affects the social systems, but also the environmental systems. And as soon as I became aware of that, I wanted to do something about it because I felt really responsible for every decision that I was taking. And that’s how NERA Eco-Construction was born.
Actually, it was also my thesis project for the second year and I was able to develop this project under the supervision of my thesis advisors, but fully developing, sort of like taking the research forward to the market, basically.
Siobhan: Amazing. And could you explain a little bit more about the technology that you’re building? What is NERA Eco-Construction? What’s your product and how is it different from other solutions that are currently on the market?
Aleyna: Of course. Thank you for asking. So we are NERA Eco-Construction and we upcycle sawdust waste, which is the waste that comes out when you cut wood, the powder actually. And we upcycle this using material science and combine it with natural binders and additives to make highly insulative and 3D printable material for specifically exterior insulation panels.
And our panels can be used for retrofitting, meaning to renovate for energy efficiency for buildings or even in the new constructions as well. And what we develop is basically to reduce the system that we develop, reduces the construction times, but also aims to lock the CO2 in the buildings. So imagine buildings becoming carbon sinks basically.
And right now we are also focussing on developing a technology that is sort of the software component of what we’re doing specifically in the hardware environment is that developing a machine learning algorithm that can sort of optimise and customise the panels that we are doing for each type of building based on the building age, its orientation, the typology.
So basically sort of like tackling this issue of like one size fits all for every building. So yes, it’s kind of like a mix between the hardware and the software.
Siobhan: Great, super interesting. And what is the current, how is this problem like currently tackled by the industry? What kind of materials are currently used for insulation or is it more so that insulation isn’t a priority currently?
Aleyna: That’s a really good question. Right now, mostly for insulation, there are a lot of natural versus also some synthetic materials, like for example, mineral wool, sawdust is sometimes also used for insulation on its own.
There’s also other materials like foam and everything, but currently the problem with those materials is their recyclability and their carbon footprints. And also the fact that in order to renovate a building that for example, has these insulation materials, but they are outdated, let’s say that are the existing buildings, this becomes a problem to how to retrofit or how to renovate the existing buildings to make sure that the current standards that we have can be sort of like implemented in those ways.
So right now, what’s like the problem, I would say with the insulation materials is that they are not really customisable or not really can be used for exterior surfaces basically. So the insulation that you normally see is sort of inside that you don’t really, and then it will be finished with other products. But what we aim to do is to sort of develop this more holistic way of having the insulation and finishing altogether so that we can design our own thing that is more highly performative as well.
And right now, how I see is, because you also asked about if insulation is something that people focus on and for sure, definitely it’s very important, but right now the sort of the interventions to improve the insulation of existing buildings are very lacking because they are very small, let’s say small interventions, maybe around the windows or around the halls of the buildings, et cetera, but not really in a more holistic way of tackling the root cause of issue, which is the facades. So this is the main problem I would say in the industry specifically for the insulation.
Siobhan: Yeah, and I think of the sort of classic buildings in Barcelona where they seem to be boiling hot in the summertime and freezing cold in the wintertime. So I think getting insulation right is a huge challenge to be solved, especially in this city. I wanted to know as well, how did you come up with the idea of using sawdust, which I guess is a highly prevalent waste material in the construction sector? I know you said that this was your master’s project, how did you come up with this idea? Could you explain that a little bit?
Aleyna: Of course, for sure. I think sawdust is a, well, right now, actually how everything started was sawdust itself is a very, I would say, materially intelligent material. It has, let’s say, inherent material intelligence.
So what we believe also with NERA Eco-Construction is that the materials, they kind of tell you what they wanna be. So they have this inherent intelligence within them that specific properties of them can be utilised to solve very big problems. And I think sawdust is also one of them.
So in terms of insulation, sawdust itself is a very well-insulating, porous material, and super lightweight as well. So for the performance and for the applications that we are searching for, which is for the insulation, it was the best option. But also during my master’s programme, I came across that right now in the EU in general, there is a boom in mass timber construction because obviously the European Union, they want to decarbonise the construction industry.
And one of the materials that we know how to use and how to work with is timber. That’s why, and one of the natural materials that we know, and they want to sort of make sure that all the, everyone in the sector is using more wood or wood-based products, which means that there’s a lot of, so when you use a lot of timber, you also have a lot of by-products of timber, which is like sawdust or these like wood chips, et cetera.
So I was also coming across that there is an increase in the wood waste as well because of these regulatory initiatives from the EU as well. So we found the perfect match between what we want to do in terms of material intelligence, but also this existing ever-growing waste, basically, yeah.
Siobhan: Wow, that’s super interesting, this idea of how just a regulation can bring about new innovation in this sense, the fact that there is more, like the EU is encouraging more wood to be used means that there’s more wood waste, means that there’s startups like yourself that are using that wood waste to create new sustainable products and so on. It’s very interesting.
I did just want to move on to talking about sustainability in the construction sector. So I know you said, obviously, you were just explaining that the EU is taking steps to make sure that the construction sector becomes more sustainable. I mean, I didn’t previously know that the construction sector was responsible for one third of global emissions. Do you feel like it’s something that the sector is starting to take seriously?
Aleyna: It’s a very relevant question because I would say that definitely the sector or especially policy initiatives are trying to take sustainability or the aspects of the circular economy more seriously. I think the main issue here is that the big players or the big stakeholders of the construction industry and them adopting these rules and regulations, I think through the governmental support and help and also these initiatives, people are becoming more aware and they are kind of, in a way, gently nudged towards the more sustainable alternatives.
However, I still feel like we are not investing as much as we could have for sustainability, especially in the construction sector, I would say, or and specifically for the hardware products. But yeah, it could have been better, but we are getting there, I guess.
Siobhan: So you do feel like it’s more so of a gentle nudge as opposed to like heavy fines if you don’t follow the sustainability rules at the moment?
Aleyna: Exactly. It’s more, I would say that because there are some countries, obviously, of course, there are more heavy fines in terms of waste management and the CO2 emissions and everything.
But I think the problem with some of these gentle nudges or even the fines is that not thinking about what these initiatives could cause in a way that’s sort of like how ripple effects work or some unintended consequences.
Because sometimes we are too focused on a specific metric like CO2 emissions or operational carbon, but we are forgetting about, for example, how that material or where did it come from? What about the resources that we got from them? And it’s not only just about one metric, so it’s about the whole system. So I think that’s where we are missing this sustainability aspect because it’s not just one specific area.
Siobhan: Yeah, for sure. And then how does the industry try to balance sustainability with things like cost effectiveness and then also aesthetics, which are also important to cities?
Aleyna: Definitely. I think right now how I see it, sustainability is more seen as a premium feature that’s sort of, if you have enough resources and awareness that you can access to these, even if you wanna do something good, it’s kind of super expensive. And I think it will not stick, sustainability will not stick, I would say, if it’s not coming at a cost competitive, like at a level that is cost competitive with the existing materials or systems, because that’s really, we have a lot of, in the industry, a lot of pressure from different stakeholders, different people and the clients also, they are like economically very conscious and rightly so.
So I would say that it’s kind of really hard to balance, but when sustainability is in the question, it’s usually seen as this premium extra feature, let’s say. And regarding the aesthetics and cost effectiveness and sustainability, I think that sustainability could actually bring a lot of, or unlock a lot of aesthetics, I would say, because for me, it also means that looking at what the local heritage or the context is and sort of like treating that local aesthetics or existing context and using that and applying maybe locally available materials.
And that’s also a part of sustainability that can somehow enrich the aesthetics as well. And yeah, I think for sure that we want to do some things that are sustainable, socially inclusive and beautiful, and that’s how all the transformation could fully work.
Siobhan: Yeah, and I can imagine that like, well, in the case of NERA Eco-Construction, that surely something like sustainability and cost effectiveness are kind of going hand in hand, right? Because if you’re using these waste materials rather than sourcing a new material entirely, surely that’s contributing to cost effectiveness.
Aleyna: Yeah, 100%. I definitely agree with you. We are also actively working on to reduce costs and to make everything that we are producing is obviously sustainable, but also affordable because the main audience that is being really affected by this energy inefficiency is the people who are not even able to cool or warm their homes. So for us, it’s very important to keep everything affordable and make sure that everyone has access to it.
Because of the technology that we are using for 3D printing currently, let’s say, the costs are a bit higher, obviously, but as we scale up, we are aiming to even reduce the costs and become even more cost competitive with the existing materials.
Siobhan: For sure. I just wanted to ask another question about that. Would you say, I mean, we hear this term greenwashing a lot. Would you say that greenwash is something that exists within the construction sector?
Aleyna: Definitely, 100%. I think it’s very prevalent in the industry. And I see it when I go to different industry events (for different materials and a lot of companies that offer more eco products, let’s say that they say that it’s eco and it has lower CO2 emissions and et cetera. But then it’s when you really check their data and how they’re sourcing it. So when you really look into the big picture, you actually see that it was actually more of a greenwashing rather than a real statement.
So you see a lot of these as well. It’s also what I mentioned before about focussing on just one metric because everyone really makes claims about the carbon footprint and not really thinking about the resources that come, where all these resources are coming from and maybe the embodied carbon, like what’s the carbon that is being generated when you are producing that material or even like the social aspects of it, like the conditions of the people that are producing it and are they treated fairly and all sorts of things that actually is super relevant to sustainability but we never talk about it because the greenwashing is usually around the CO2 reductions.
Siobhan: Yeah, just out of curiosity, off the top of your head, would you say what, if there was a say, like firm in the construction sector that was looking for a provider and they wanted to source a sustainable provider, what kind of questions should they be asking to that provider to ensure that their claims around being sustainable are true?
Aleyna: That’s a really, really interesting question because also some of the things that we are discussing now and you’re asking also now are some of the interviews that we had with potential customers that were asking us.
So definitely, first of all, obviously CO2 emissions that we just mentioned but also talking about sort of the whole, they asked us about, for example, the supply chain, how everything works out. So basically not only the CO2 impact of your material but also your whole process of how you, for example, power your machines from the energy that you use to the sort of like your water management principles.
There’s also things about where are you sourcing the sawdust from, for example, for us or where are you sourcing any material from? Are the sawdust that is being sourced was actually, let’s say, ethically sourced from trees or like all these like going to the baseline from the beginning to asking about resource management, the supply chain management and also even asking about how transparent they are about all these effects and where did they measure all these metrics and who actually quantified these measures.
Because there are sometimes really, obviously great third parties that somehow certify these measures but there are better ones than the others. So it’s also important to see which one they have used and yeah, mainly these areas, I would say.
Siobhan: I guess it’s the kind of thing where, the more providers that you speak to and the more people are speaking about these different things, it’s kind of about boosting education around the sorts of metrics that you should be looking out for.
Aleyna: Exactly.
Siobhan: Really interesting. So I wanted to move on now to kind of a bit more about your background. It’s super interesting that you’ve trained as an architect and then now you’ve moved into this entrepreneurial background. First of all, I wanted to know sort of, like I know you did your master’s in Barcelona, which is what kind of sparked you on this journey of becoming an entrepreneur. Why did you decide to do your master’s in Barcelona?
Aleyna: Yeah, that’s a really, really great question and also something that I get asked a lot. But honestly, I have decided to come to Barcelona because of the specific school and the programme that they were offering. That was very different from my bachelor’s degree in terms of the education, like the hands-on aspect of things, but also the focus on sustainability and sort of like these new emerging technologies, like how we can implement them, make sure that we can also implement sustainability in the projects as well.
So the main reason was this obviously, but definitely for architecture and for any architect, but even for anyone, Barcelona is such a beautiful and rich city in terms of culture and arts. And obviously Gaudi, I mean, that’s a really, really great inspiration. And I’ve also got to learn that Barcelona is where urbanism was born. So it was like an incredible place to start actually, but it wasn’t super intentional, I would say.
Siobhan: Great, and then shortly after doing this master’s, you started your own company. Was that always your plan? Did you always plan to become an entrepreneur or was it purely just, you were so immersed in your project that you decided to turn it into a company?
Aleyna: Well, actually I have never before, like when I was living in Turkey, I’ve never even considered becoming an entrepreneur and I wasn’t really even familiar with any type of business or entrepreneurial concepts, I would say. I had people around me, like my dad, my uncle, that are a bit more entrepreneurial in that sense, like this mindset, but I never thought I would be also like that, let’s say.
So it was more about seeing the impact of what we are doing in the industry and feeling responsible about what I’m doing, what I’m outputting, but also just wanting to do a bigger impact as well. And as soon as, after my master’s thesis, as soon as I saw there’s some potential that this product can become something that could actually help more people, I decided to take on this challenge, but it wasn’t in the plans, let’s say.
Siobhan: Really interesting. So could you tell me a little bit more about your experience of building a company in Barcelona? And I mean, I know that you said that this is your first experience of starting up a company, but how do you feel like it would have compared to building a company in Turkey, for example?
Aleyna: I think there’s a lot of differences in a way. I think, because we are building a company, obviously, but we are also trying to build something that is impact focused, but also something that is around hardware and architecture. So there’s a lot of layers to it that adds more complexity to building other companies, which I’m not saying building a company is easy, but in general, there’s like a lot of different layers that we need to consider.
In terms of Barcelona versus Spain versus Turkey, I would say the biggest difference that I’m seeing is that people’s openness to look at innovation, but also innovation and sustainability. I think Turkey is trying to push for more sustainable projects, but they are, I think it’s not at the level as I would have hoped personally, or the care and the focus is not really there yet.
Although the real estate industry is really, really booming and it’s really big as well. But in Barcelona, what I’m seeing is that there’s a lot of focused, or in Europe in general, that the impacts and sort of the positive social and environmental impact.
And that’s also seen through like the government initiatives and all the supports and the startup ecosystem that people want to bring together different stakeholders to make something happen. And they are really open for collaboration. And in this sense, I think there’s a big difference in this aspect.
And I think that me being here and building the company here obviously helped and obviously having a sustainability focused company here versus if it was in Turkey really helped also accelerate the process for myself as well. So I think in that sense, I’m grateful to build it here in a way. And I would love to see more innovation in sustainability coming from Turkey and be seen as something that is urgent and essential rather than an add-on basically.
Siobhan: For sure. And I wanted to know as well, what would you say have been some of the biggest challenges or the biggest mindset shift that you’ve had to make from going from being an architect to an entrepreneur?
Aleyna: I think the biggest challenges was personally, I would say that the fact that I have a lot of perfectionism mindset that something needs to be perfect to be able to shift or delivered. And it obviously is in a way that it’s a double-edged sword that it has its own positive qualities, but also it’s kind of slows down the process of actually building something together with people that doing like receiving the feedback from people to build something.
So I think that from being an architect is more like you are there, obviously you have a team but you are designing stuff altogether and producing something for the clients versus when you are an entrepreneur is like you’re trying to really build something together with people that the people that you are serving in a way. So you are always co-designing, co-developing the product and getting a lot of feedback and understanding their values and everything. So I think in this case, this was the biggest shift as well.
And another challenge is I think that, so in architectural offices or different architecture construction environments, there’s a lot of technical language that you need to, because people speak and then they understand each other because everyone speaks the same technical jargon. But when you’re an entrepreneur, you have to be able to translate what this technical language means or how it affects the person and to make sure that they understand what you’re trying to say and make sure that they are relating to what you’re saying and to the problem and everything. And so basically this is another thing.
Siobhan: Great, and if you could go back to the beginning of this journey, what’s one piece of advice that you wish you’d received?
Aleyna: Well, I think that this is a very hard question, but there are so many things that I wish I knew before doing and starting and I think, but one of the things would be probably the fact that there is, so it feels like sometimes there is only one right way to do things and sometimes and when I was also doing a lot of things, especially not coming from business or entrepreneurship background, I always thought that there is, I have to learn how to do the things the right way.
So I was doing a lot of, and I’m still doing to an extent that a lot of research, a lot of understanding, like reading, listening to podcasts, listening to, watching videos, et cetera, to understand how to do things the right way. But I think I’ve overall come to know that what if there is actually not one way to do it, but there is only your way of doing it.
So it’s okay to not try to find that one encompassing truth about the way of doing things, but rather than creating your own ways of doing things, and maybe that’s the only way that you can do them anyways. So I think like learning this was a, would have been a, or like knowing this would have helped me progress faster in many ways. I’m still practising this.
Siobhan: Interesting. I guess it’s one of those things that you probably have to learn from experience, don’t you? You have to sort of learn to trust your gut eventually.
Aleyna: Exactly.
Siobhan: That’s great. We just have time for a couple more questions. Just before we wrap up, I wanted to just know a little bit more about the future for Nera Eco-Construction. So what’s currently in the pipeline? What are some of your next steps as a company?
Aleyna: Well, right now we are, we have an MVP material that we would like to launch with some (2:50) alternative applications. So as you might have guessed, developing a material for the construction industry or like for the building material as a building material is a super long journey and it takes a lot of time to go through a lot of different certifications and regulations as well. And we have decided to, during this time of sort of certifying the material, explore some alternative applications with our MVP material.
So over the next six to nine months, what we are looking at is to do some pilot projects to explore alternative applications. For example, exploring customised indoor or outdoor furniture pieces for different companies. This is somehow our way of entering the material, entering the markets with the MVP material faster, but also to get a lot of feedback from people to understand what they like and how they like it and what can we change to make it better for them.
But also to generate more traction and, and also, yeah, and more impact, basically. So this is our way of doing right now, looking at this type of pilot projects. But also, as I was saying, applying for certifications and maybe applying for patents in the near future to make sure that we protect our IP, but yeah.
Siobhan: Great. That sounds really exciting. And then where would you like to see Nera Eco Construction in five years time?
Aleyna: That’s amazing. Well, I would like to see us as, maybe it’s a bit of a very, very big dream, but as one of the big players for biobased construction and 100% biobased construction as well. We would like to be able to launch in different places in Europe, not only in Spain, but also to sort of expand our impact over Europe and maybe even going to, I don’t know, the US or Asia. That would be super exciting to see.
Yeah, basically making buildings carbon sinks for sure.
Siobhan: Great. I’m sure you will become one of the big names in the next few years, watch this space.
And then finally, where would you like to see the architecture and construction industry as a whole in the next five to 10 years?
Aleyna: I think what would be super, super incredible is that if architecture could prioritise sustainability or like a circular economy and see that as a main driver rather than something that is a constraint or something that needs to be thought of after everything else. Right now, there’s a lot of focus being placed on the design, obviously, of course, like aesthetics and everything and the costs, but not really the impact of what all these materials, all these systems, means.
So I think if we could see it as something that is a driver of design and driver of the application that we might want to do, then we could be moving forward much easier, not only in the environmental sense, but also the social sense, thinking about how can we be responsible with everything that we are designing and making? And what if the construction is becoming more part of the solution rather than the biggest contributor of the problem?
Siobhan: Yeah, like you said, it’s all connected at the end of the day, isn’t it? Well, Aleyna, thank you so much for your time today. It’s been so interesting learning all about Nera Eco Construction and about your journey to becoming an architect turned founder. Yeah, we’ll definitely keep following your company and hope to learn more about you as you grow. Thanks again so much for your time today.
Aleyna: Thank you so much for your thoughtful questions. I really enjoyed talking to you, Siobhan, and thank you for having me. I really look forward to keeping in touch and staying connected as well. (7:42)
Siobhan: You too. Thank you so much.