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From Farm to Factory: How a New Bio-Based Model Is Redefining the Future of Construction

This might seem a little left-field to the usual content on this site, but the themes discussed in this YouTube presentation are relevant to paludiculture because Chloe Donovan’s work sits at the crossroads of agriculture, material supply chains, and low-carbon construction, consistently exploring how natural, plant-based materials can support new rural income sources and local manufacturing models.




1:1 scale cross-section of an insulated wall using 100% paludiculture products.













The built environment is experiencing a once-in-a-generation transformation. Rising carbon pressures, volatile materials markets, and increasing housing shortages have caused the industry to reconsider how buildings are designed, manufactured, and delivered. Among the most influential voices leading this change is Chloe Donovan, founder of Natural Building Systems and the driving force behind ADEPT Modular, a plant-based, precision-engineered panel platform that reimagines sustainable construction at scale.


What makes Donovan’s work stand out isn’t just the innovation in biomaterials — it’s the systems thinking behind it. Her model doesn’t view sustainability as simply a “material swap.” Instead, it integrates agriculture, manufacturing, and construction into a regionally based, circular industrial ecosystem — one that has the potential to transform the economics and carbon footprint of our construction methods.


Agriculture as the Starting Point of Construction


Donovan’s journey started far from the world of architects and contractors. Growing up on a dairy farm, she gained an early understanding of the challenges facing UK agriculture: consolidation, volatile prices, and the need to diversify. That realisation sparked an idea that would shape her career—what if farms could grow buildings?


The idea is simple yet effective: use short-rotation biomass crops, especially industrial hemp, to create new income streams for farmers and provide the construction sector with greener, low-carbon materials. It is an approach that connects rural economic resilience with urban sustainability objectives—two policy areas that too often work separately.


From Biomass to Building Panels: Engineering a Scalable System


While early experimentation focused on hemp-lime, Donovan and her collaborators quickly faced the practical constraints common to many bio-based startups: drying times, process variability, and difficulty achieving manufacturing precision. The breakthrough came with the development of hemp-based composite materials engineered to naturally pair with Computer Numerical Control (CNC)-cut timber frames, enabling:


  • Precision-engineered panel systems

  • Fast, predictable assembly

  • Design for disassembly and reuse

  • Thermal and moisture performance aligned with natural material science


The core philosophy behind ADEPT Modular is this: standardise the components, not the buildings. Instead of enforcing catalogue designs, the platform offers architects a flexible kit of parts that can be customised for numerous project types—schools, residential, retrofit, commercial interiors—without needing bespoke detailing from scratch.


This approach addresses a long-standing gap in Modern Methods of Construction (MMC): the industry’s current focus on centralising manufacturing while sidelining existing trades, designers, and local supply chains. Instead of competing with the construction ecosystem, ADEPT integrates into it.


Why Micro‑Factories Matter


Traditional modular construction has been dominated by large ‘mega-factory’ models—high-capex facilities that require constant throughput to remain viable. The recent wave of high-profile failures in this sector has revealed the fragility of that model.


Donovan’s response is the opposite: decentralised micro-factories deliberately situated near agricultural supply. These facilities are:


  • Capital‑light, requiring basic CNC and low-tech assembly

  • Designed to produce around 100 homes per year

  • Staffed by local labour rather than highly specialised factory workforces

  • Embedded in regional value chains that keep more economic value circulating locally


This decentralised model sidesteps the need for a single large pipeline of work and instead envisages a networked manufacturing ecosystem, where each node responds to local demand and material flows.


Learning from MMC’s Struggles


ADEPT’s strategy has also been influenced by a thorough analysis of why earlier MMC ventures faced difficulties. Several lessons emerge:


  • Technology alone doesn’t solve systemic issues.

Manufacturing needs to align with planning, procurement, insurance, and skills — not exist in isolation.

  • Volumetric isn’t always the answer.

Large modules bring transport and cranage burdens that eliminate carbon or cost benefits.

  • Adaptability is essential.


The construction market is stop–start; the manufacturing model must absorb interruption rather than depend on linear, uninterrupted volume.


ADEPT’s panelised platform intentionally avoids the rigidity and high overheads that troubled earlier players.


Navigating Policy, Adoption, and the Funding Gap


One of the most perceptive parts of Donovan’s interview is her evaluation of the double valley of death confronting physical construction innovation.


  1. Technical valley — performance validation, certification, fire testing, early pilots

  2. Adoption valley — risk aversion among insurers, developers, warranty providers, and quantity surveyors


Digital startups face only the first. Construction startups must climb both.

This is why policy matters. Donovan emphasises a key point: the EU views sustainability as an industrial strategy, while the UK still considers it primarily as an environmental aspiration.


She points to:

  • Regional bio-based manufacturing funding in the EU

  • Carbon‑removal credit frameworks for bio-based materials

  • Mandates on biogenic content in construction

  • Targeted investment in agricultural–construction supply chains


In contrast, the UK does not have mandatory embodied carbon reporting, a basic step that would generate immediate demand for low-carbon materials.


What Adoption Looks Like in Practice


For ADEPT, progress has come through strategic, high-visibility pilot projects:


  • Early demonstrators and trade‑show installations

  • Classrooms, garden studios, and small commercial buildings

  • A high-profile panelised retrofit within a TfL railway arch

  • Increasing collaboration with local authorities, housing bodies, and innovation networks


Each project helps “normalise” the system, giving insurers, planners, and developers confidence that this is not fringe experimentation but a maturing, repeatable approach.


A Tipping Point for Bio-Based Construction


One of the most exciting undercurrents in Donovan’s work is the feeling that the industry is on the verge of a structural change. The combination of:


  • growing technical maturity

  • favourable policy signals (especially in Europe)

  • farmer interest in new revenue models

  • local authorities exploring custom‑build and small‑developer models

  • expanding retrofit demand

  • rising embodied‑carbon scrutiny


means bio-based construction is no longer a niche discussion. It’s rapidly becoming a credible route for achieving large-scale decarbonisation, rural revitalisation, and healthier buildings that benefit communities more effectively.


What Comes Next


For Natural Building Systems, the roadmap is clear:

  • Scale manufacturing partnerships

  • Deliver regional pilot clusters (10–30 homes)

  • Launch the first full residential project outside a trade‑show environment

  • Advance lab‑enabled R&D in next‑generation biomaterials

  • Support other innovators through shared testing infrastructure

  • Continue building evidence for insurers and regulators

  • Catalyse the first European manufacturing partner post‑Brexit


The aim is not for a single mega-factory. It is a network of micro-factories, each transforming locally sourced biomass into precision-engineered building components—making sustainable buildings not only feasible but also commercially competitive.


Conclusion: A New Model for a New Era


Chloe Donovan’s vision suggests a future where construction no longer relies on petrochemical materials, extensive supply chains, and carbon-intensive manufacturing. Instead, buildings emerge from regional circular economies, where agriculture, technology, and craft unite within a modern, distributed industrial ecosystem.

If the construction industry is committed to lowering embodied carbon, boosting affordability, and supporting local economies, this farm-to-factory model is not just interesting; it is strategic.


It serves as a blueprint for how the next generation of construction innovation will develop: not centrally, but locally; not through volume alone, but through systems alignment.


 
 
 

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