07.23.2024 | Fast Company
Fast Company Names RENCO USA as Top Innovator
Top Innovator RENCO USA Boosts Sustainable Construction with Real-Life LEGO Buildings
Fast Company has named Miami-based RENCO USA a Top Innovator in Materials for helping to solve one of the most crucial problems in construction: creating more sustainable, affordable homes and buildings.
RENCO USA, which uses patented composite blocks made with repurposed materials that stack like real-life LEGO bricks, is the winner in the materials category in Fast Company’s 2024 Innovation by Design Awards. Now in its 14th year, the competition features a range of blue-chip companies, emerging startups, and hungry young talents. As one of the most sought-after design awards across all industries, past winners include a variety of game-changing innovations, from Microsoft’s adaptive accessories to IBM’s space-conscious quantum computer.
“We are deeply honored and humbled to make Fast Company’s list of some of the top innovations in design in 2024,” said RENCO Co-Founder Thomas P. Murphy, Jr. “What we’ve created is the biggest change in construction in a century. By replacing traditional concrete, wood, and steel with our revolutionary composite, RENCO will dramatically reduce construction’s carbon footprint worldwide.”
About Innovation by Design Award
Fast Company judges selected RENCO based on its functionality, originality, beauty, sustainability, user insight, cultural impact, and business impact. RENCO’s innovative building system, utilizing interlocking molded blocks, reduces costs significantly and allows for rapid construction. Made with repurposed glass fibers, resin, and naturally occurring calcite, this renewable composite material is certified to withstand Category 5 hurricane-force winds.
Following more than 12 years of research and development and having passed more than 400 safety tests for Code approval, RENCO USA successfully completed its inaugural apartment complex in Palm Springs, Florida, at the end of 2023. Using color-coded plans, 11 non-traditionally trained construction workers assembled each three-story building in about eight weeks.
“Forget everything you know about traditional construction sites. RENCO is transforming green building,” said RENCO USA President Kenneth Smuts. “Our projects function like a kit, eliminating cutting and waste. No more large dumpsters are needed. Plus, with our significantly lighter bricks, there is no need for large cranes or heavy machinery.”
As climate change intensifies, RENCO is designed to last longer than conventional construction because it won’t rust or rot, termites won’t consume it, it’s rated to be hurricane resistant, and it is resistant to fire, water, mold, and pests. To meet growing demand, a manufacturing facility in South Florida is opening this summer, producing composite products for U.S. distribution. The RENCO system is approved for domestic and international building.
Other Recent Accolades
This marks RENCO USA’s fourth global award in less than a year. In July, the company won an A’Design Award in Como, Italy. In February, RENCO took first place for building innovations at the 2024 JEC Composites Innovation Awards in Paris, France. In November, RENCO won Best Construction Product Design of 2023 at the BLT Built Design Awards in Lucerne, Switzerland.
