At Panchsheel Inter College in Uttar Pradesh, students now study inside a new school wing built not from concrete or traditional brick, but from sugarcane. Or rather, from the fibrous residue that sugarcane leaves behind — bagasse — transformed into a building material called Sugarcrete.
The innovation was born at the University of East London (UEL) and its creators argue it could reshape how buildings are made and how the planet pays for it.
The Sugarcrete story started at UEL’s Sustainability Research Institute. Here, researchers like Alan Chandler and Armor Gutierrez Rivas began experimenting with turning sugarcane waste into something solid and scalable.
Sugarcrete combines bagasse with sand and mineral binders to produce lightweight, interlocking blocks. According to its developers, it’s not just eco-friendly — it’s remarkably effective. Lab tests show Sugarcrete has strong fire resistance, acoustic dampening, and thermal insulation properties. It’s been tested to industrial standards and passed with flying colors. In terms of climate impact, the material is a standout. It’s six times less carbon-intensive than standard bricks, and twenty times less than concrete, by some estimates.
“Using only 30 percent of the world bagasse production, Sugarcrete could replace the traditional brick industry entirely, offering a potential saving of 1.08 billion tonnes of CO2, three percent of the global CO2 production,” said the Sugarcrete team.
Yet the real excitement doesn’t only come from Sugarcrete is, but how it’s made and used.
“It is purposely ‘open access’ in order to establish partnerships to produce new bio-waste-based construction materials where sugarcane is grown,” said the research team. Unlike conventional building materials locked behind patents, Sugarcrete can be made by anyone with the right ingredients and basic manufacturing tools. That choice, they argue, decentralizes construction innovation, allowing small-scale producers — especially in the Global South — to lead.
It’s already being put to the test
Architects from the global design firm Grimshaw helped shape Sugarcrete’s evolution. They introduced an interlocking block design — modeled on 17th-century masonry techniques — that allows slabs to span three meters without mortar. A different version, one with mortar, was used to build a school in India.
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Working with Chemical Systems Technologies (CST) in India, the UEL team set up the first Sugarcrete production facility using local materials. Together with students from the Delhi School of Architecture and Planning, they helped design and build the new wing of Panchsheel Inter College.
“This project has taught us invaluable lessons about how Sugarcrete can enable communities to transition to sustainable building practices,” said Sugarcrete co-creator Alan Chandler, Associate of UEL’s Sustainability Research Institute (SRI).
“While we have learned how easy the blocks are to use, we’ve also identified challenges, such as ensuring the availability of materials and skills required for certain lime-based renders. With the dedication of our local partners, we are taking significant steps toward revolutionising construction and making low-carbon alternatives accessible and practical.”
Can this be scaled?
While lab tests show promising results for fire resistance, compression, and insulation, the true measure of Sugarcrete’s viability will come from how well it performs year after year in buildings like the new school in India.
If the material can withstand real-world conditions over time — rain, heat, humidity, and daily wear — without crumbling, warping, or losing strength, it has great potential.
With India producing 400 million tons of sugarcane annually, there’s no shortage of raw material. The potential for large-scale positive social and environmental impact is immense, the researchers emphasize.
It’s not just India, either.
Every year, the world produces nearly two billion tons of sugarcane, generating some 600 million tons of bagasse waste. Traditionally burned or discarded, this material could become the cornerstone of a new construction paradigm.
For now, the school is a real-life prototype. The bricks are silent, but the message is loud. Sustainable futures may rise from what we once threw away.