Innovation Exchange Challenge: New Insulation Materials for Enhanced Sustainable Lintel Products

A steel lintel maker and a bio-composites startup are teaming up to replace the plastic foam insulation inside building lintels with a fully recyclable, plant-based or recycled alternative. The problem is straightforward. Every steel lintel—the beam that sits above a window or door—contains a strip of insulation, typically polyurethane foam. That foam is made from fossil fuels, cannot be recycled, and locks carbon into the building fabric for decades. Opovate, a company that normally works with mycelium composites and Formula 1 materials, will develop a new insulation material that meets Catnic’s requirements: it must be cost-competitive, compatible with plaster, and perform as well as the current foam. If the project succeeds, the impact sits inside the walls of almost every new home and extension in the UK. Lintels are a small, hidden component, but they are installed in huge numbers. Replacing the foam with a recyclable, lower-carbon material would reduce the embodied carbon of a standard building element without changing how builders install it. The work is applied and product-focused—there is no fundamental science here. The goal is a commercially viable, drop-in replacement that cuts waste and emissions from a component most people never see.