Ever see a stack of newspapers and wonder: “why haven’t these gone in the trash?”
Well, a Santa Fe startup has a different idea — and it’s not about saving money on gift wrap during the holiday season. Instead, the firm provides the backbone for homes insulated with newspaper.
The company, called B.PUBLIC Prefab, subscribes to a growing building standard called “passive house,” focused on energy savings. Now the startup, which was founded in 2019, wants to open a manufacturing facility in New Mexico along with contract producers in other places.
In an interview on May 17, cofounder and CEO Edie Dillman spelled out the origin story and concept behind B.PUBLIC Prefab and its prefabricated building blocks.
"We do the off-site framing, sheathing, insulation, weather barrier and air barrier of the primary building envelope," Dillman said.
Those parts can then be finished off with other interior and external materials. The company has a focus on markets with high housing demand, a shortage of builders and where code, policy and incentives are geared toward what the company provides.
Dillman said that in 2019, the startup purchased intellectual property from NEEDBASED, a design practice with a focus on sustainability from Jonah Stanford, one of three co-founders at B.PUBLIC. Charlotte Lagarde, a filmmaker who Dillman said was looking to pivot her career to environmental justice, is the third cofounder.
"Effectively, passive house approach allows for a conservation of energy for heating and cooling of 80 to 90 percent above a standard code home," Dillman said. "So we're talking net-zero, nearly net-zero."
B.PUBLIC is located at the Santa Fe Business Incubator with plans to open the New Mexico facility in the next one to two years. For buildings outside the Southwest, B.PUBLIC will use contract manufacturers. Similarly, for all projects, the company will enlist others to assemble the final product.
The six-employee company has already raised $750,000 in debt funding, according to Dillman.
