A line of thin concrete panels made by Delta, B.C.-based MATT Concrete is designed to retain the aesthetic of the material, without the weight and carbon footprint.

The company offers a range of products for the walls, fireplaces and ceilings of residential and commercial buildings, designed to replace thick precast concrete panels. Made on plywood sheets and magnesium oxide boards, MATT’s products are made with up to 95 per cent less concrete compared to conventional concrete panels, the company says.

The panels are easy for construction workers to install, and because they require less of the carbon-intensive concrete there is a significant reduction in related greenhouse gas emissions, co-founder and CEO Randy Orr said in an interview with Sustainable Biz Canada.

Additionally, MATT uses fly ash enhanced with carbon dioxide (CO2) for its concrete mix, trapping more of the greenhouse gas in the panels.

MATT’s concrete panels are “engineered to make a difference,” he said.

Orr is aiming to address the carbon emissions from the cement and concrete sector, which is responsible for approximately eight per cent of industrial greenhouse gas emissions. In Canada, the industry emits approximately 1.5 per cent of the country’s GHGs, according to the Pembina Institute, more than domestic aviation.

MATT’s low-concrete, low-carbon panels

MATT was founded in 2016 by Orr and his wife Colleen. Randy Orr has decades of experience as an interior designer; Colleen Orr in business management and logistics. The two sought to make concrete panels that were light enough to be shipped anywhere around the world, using a process they discovered over a decade ago.

“We learned a way to utilize a very thin mix, get rid of most of the aggregate. That obviously allows it to be thin,” Orr said about the development of the panels.

In an example of how far the company can go, it released MATT Flex in August, a flexible sheet with the thinness of a business card. The product can be wrapped around a corner or bent on a curb, a significant departure from the conventions of concrete.

MATT’s products are manufactured at its 6,000-square-foot facility in Delta, where CO2-enhanced fly ash from Calgary-based Carbon Upcycling Technologies is mixed into the concrete. This cures the CO2 in the material, Orr said, sequestering the greenhouse gas. The use of fly ash cuts cement-related emissions by about 25 to 30 per cent, he explained.

Other than the reductions to the embodied carbon of the material, Orr said the lightweight properties of the panels reduces the number of construction workers required on job sites. Additionally, more panels can be transported at once, further cutting carbon emissions from worker commutes and shipping.

Facing the Dragons' Den

MATT’s panels have been used in projects across Canada and the U.S.

In Vancouver, the company is under contract to supply panels for two of the main lobbies of the Bentall Centre. In Toronto, its products are seen in the CIBC headquarters and Ontario Power Generation’s offices.

MATT’s customers on the retail side include grocers such as Longo’s, beverage businesses such as Starbucks, and a Team Town Sports in Vancouver.

The company is aiming to be distributed by RONA throughout Canada.

MATT is working to attract investment with the goal of automating its production. “That’s a cost investment that’s worthwhile for our product,” Orr said, “because it has the ability to scale very quickly.”

In an effort to build a reputation, the company has attended trade shows across Canada, such as the Interior Design Show in Toronto “maybe half a dozen times,” and BUILDEX in Vancouver.

To gain greater reach than any trade show could provide, Orr and his brother Kevin pitched the company on the TV show Dragons' Den earlier this year. MATT received a $150,000 investment offer from businesswoman Arlene Dickinson for a 20 per cent stake of the company, which it accepted.

Though it was a very stressful session of rapid-fire grilling by the potential investors, being on the show “gave us the ability to get us out and tell the story of our product on a national audience,” Orr said.

MATT will continue its search for investment through venture capital events, he added, and will continue its research and development.