On Closer Inspection: What's in Our Materials?
Human health and environmental impacts should be one of the greatest considerations when specifying materials, across all stages of a building’s lifecycle. This includes the assessment of materials containing chemicals that pose risks, both physically, and on a wider environmental scale.
UK REACH is a legally binding, risk based regulatory framework that controls the use and manufacture of chemicals within the UK. It is designed to manage chemical risk and allow safe use of substances on the market. The International Living Future Institute (ILFI) Red List is a voluntary health standard that aims to eliminate chemicals of concern from the built environment. The ILFI Red list prohibits entire chemical classes as well as specific substances, regardless of if they are allowed in UK law, while UK REACH allows certain substances below defined concentration limits, or in approved use scenarios.
The Living Building Challenge Red List 1 highlights chemicals that are the most dangerous and prevalent within the construction industry. These chemicals serve different purposes within building products, enhancing durability, weather resistance, and fire protection. However, these chemicals can be hazardous in many ways, often being carcinogenic, and contributing to ozone depletion. Some common products that contain Red List Materials include insulation, roofing, flooring, adhesives & sealants, plastics and wiring. The Living Building Challenge requirements are based on a series of petals, with the materials petal focussing on safe, sustainable, non toxic materials that prioritise environmental and human health.
Below, we have outlined a few Red List chemicals that are found within the UK construction industry:
Per and Polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFA’s)
All PFA’s or ‘forever chemicals’ are included within the Living Building Challenge Red List. PFAs are used widely within the construction industry and are valued for their durability and resistance to water, grease and corrosion. PFA’s wont easily degrade, and once released into the environment, can stay intact for long periods of time. The forever pollution project has shown that they have been found in the most remote areas of the world, such as the arctic, and have also been detected in the brain, blood and breast milk of humans and animals globally. PFAs can be found in a variety of products including furniture, carpets, insulation, heat pumps, electronics, paints, plastics and rubber 2. Its prevalence has been associated with a wide range of health problems from cancer and liver damage to immune issues and hormonal disruptions.
Polyvinyl chloride (PVC)
PVC is one of the most extensively used plastics worldwide. To make PVC, vinyl chloride, a known carcinogen, is required. 95% of vinyl chloride produced worldwide is used to create PVC 3. Even with industry advancements aiming to create a cleaner PVC, by using bio-based plasticisers, vinyl chloride is still necessary, continuing to emit cancer-causing carcinogens 4. 18.6% of PVC is currently recycled 5 and the remainder is either sent to landfill or incinerated, which releases hazardous pollutants posing both significant environmental and human health risks. Under UK REACH, hazardous additives are restricted within PVC whereas the ILFI Red List restricts the use of PVC. PVC can be found in a variety of products including flooring, pipes, windows & doors and membranes.
Formaldehyde
Formaldehyde is commonly added to products as a preservative, disinfectant or as resin form for building materials, commonly used within the adhesives and resins that bind wood fibres within engineered wood products such as plywood and MDF 6. It is also used as a disinfectant, within textiles or cosmetics. In the UK, formaldehyde is strictly regulated under UK REACH, but the use of added formaldehyde is still allowed in certain circumstances to a certain level. Within the Living Building Challenge, the use of added formaldehyde is generally prohibited, but there are some exceptions where no compliant alternative exists.
Where to find ‘Healthy Materials’
Within the Living Building Challenge Declare labels, manufacturers disclose the ‘ingredients’ of their product. For a product to be certified Red List Free, products need to disclose 100% of ingredients at or above 0.01% of the final product and contain no Red List Chemicals. For a product to be certified Red List approved, 99% of ingredients need to be disclosed and they must meet the Living Building Challenge imperative requirements through one or more exceptions. Declare labels should be encouraged in order to increase product transparency alongside being utilised to meet the requirements set out within the Living Building Challenge.
Another resource that can be used is the Healthy Materials Lab, a research lab that is dedicated to charting pathways to design and construct healthy, nontoxic buildings 7.
By understanding what is contained within the materials we specify, designers and specifiers have an opportunity to significantly reduce harm to both human health and the environment. While regulatory frameworks such as UK REACH play an important role in managing chemical risk, voluntary standards like the Living Building Challenge Red List go further by encouraging the elimination of the most harmful substances altogether. Using tools such as Declare labels and resources like the Healthy Materials Lab enables greater transparency and informed decision-making. Prioritising healthy materials not only supports safer indoor environments and ecosystems but also drives positive change across the construction industry by increasing demand for safer, more responsible products.
