Tech-Driven Resilience – Annette Rubin, Vero Building Systems

This is Textron tv. Hi, welcome to techron tv. I'm Bonnie Schneider, and today we have the pleasure of speaking with Annette Rubin, CEO and co-founder of Vero Building Systems.

Annette is a leading, is leading the charge in leveraging innovative construction technologies to create homes that can withstand the most extreme weather conditions. Annette, great to have you here. Thanks for having me, Bonnie.

Sure. Can you explain what SCIP or is it SKIP technology is and how does it contribute to more resilient construction? Yeah, absolutely.

So a SKIP panel is a structural concrete insulated panel. So basically what that is, um, is a polystyrene core, which is construction grade styrofoam with galvanized steel wire mesh on the outside. So you take those panels, you replace most of your traditional building materials, you'll set them on site on top of, uh, you know, a traditional concrete slab, and then you finish them with chare.

So the skip panel is really moving the construction market forward with sustainable, resilient homes, um, and structures because as we all know, you know, you look around the world at what, what buildings have stood the test of time, and those are all concrete buildings. Um, so they're far more resilient. They're much, much stronger and able to withstand, um, you know, hurricanes and all the types of natural disasters that we see here in the us.

That's true. So the construction sector is increasingly embracing technology. And so how does Skip integrated digital advancements, such as smart building systems or the internet of things, uh, enhance its capabilities?

Absolutely. So, um, we at Vero take the technology and the construction. Um, you know, we really want to marry those two.

So what we have an entire technical team on staff and our technical team will support your architect, your engineer of record, um, your entire build team, all the way through the process. And what that means essentially is you'll send us your digital construction files. We then input those into our proprietary software that's called Panel cad.

Um, and that gives you an output. The output is your estimate. It's how many panels you need, where the panels go, how you put them together, how much additional material you're gonna need, like your rebar and your mortar mixture.

Um, it even tells you, you know, our software even will tell you how many man hours it's gonna take, how many hours it's gonna take for your concrete to cure. Um, it's really, it's, it's very new in the construction industry to have a manufacturer or material supplier that will then tell you, you know, these are the other materials you're gonna need and how much of them you're gonna need. Uh, the second part of what our software does is it actually Bluetooth tells our production floor and our machinery what to create, what the sizes are, and it sends that all out.

So then, um, our production workers just have to push a couple buttons and the computers know what to do, and then it will essentially three d print your project. That's great. Well, disaster proof construction isn't just about materials, obviously, it's about design and engineering.

Can you share some of the insights and how design plays a role in creating disaster resilient homes? Yeah, absolutely. Design and engineering is absolutely crucial.

Um, you know, even with our panels, you have to design things appropriately. You have to have the appropriate structures in place depending on if you've got a, you know, a single story home or you're building in a 12 story multi-family unit. Um, so with, with what Vero has done in our approach to the construction market here in the US as we have worked with the a i a to create a training program, a continued education training program to train architects how to use Vero panels, how to use Skip, um, integrate those into their designs.

And then we also have worked with several different engineering partners, um, to integrate the panels into their systems. So whether they do a small home or a small structure that's completely built out of skip panels, um, or they integrate them as infill walls, you know, in your skyscrapers or your commercial buildings. Um, the engineering and the design is absolutely crucial.

And, you know, working with the architect and the engineers, really one of our specialties at Vero to make sure that you're getting, you know, you're meeting all of your goals, whether that's resiliency, whether that's energy efficiency, um, safety. We really work closely with your team to make sure that we hit all those goals. That's great.

Well, climate change unfortunately is leading to more frequent and as severe extreme weather events. So the need for resilient construction has never been more critical. How do you envision the work that you're doing will address these challenges, particularly as climate change affects more people and, and more places?

Yeah, I think that what drew me to this building system the most is that it really attacks this issue on both sides. It's much more energy efficient, it's much cleaner and greener. Um, but it also is building more resilient homes.

So as climate changes, as these hurricanes and other natural disasters, um, you know, persist and even increase building homes that are safe, um, is is obviously what we need to do now as we lower our CO two emissions. Really try and build more carbon neutrally, um, and work on having, uh, less waste in the construction industry as well. That's a really big thing about three D printing the project, that there's no waste on site.

There's also no waste in our plant as well. So attacking that from both, uh, from both sides is really our approach. You know, becoming greener, becoming more efficient, and then also building more resilient structures that are gonna be able to withstand these storms.

In what ways can this innovation impact not just disaster resilience, but you kind of touched on this energy efficiency and sustainable living in general? Um, yeah, so as far as natural disasters, um, you know, we're wind rated up to 250 miles an hour. So if you look at the path of a hurricane, you know, you see absolute devastation and destruction.

And I think, think Ian, last year it was like $50 billion worth of construction damage. So if we were able to build, you know, an entire town out of our skip panels and get those designed and engineered to be that 250 mile an hour wind raining, you'd see a hurricane blow through and, and you know, you would see damage, there would obviously be damage, there would be damage to your trees, your landscape, your roadways, things like that. But your structures would stand.

And so the damage that you see, um, the waste that has to be carried away, all of the demolition, so much of that, um, could be avoided if we built more resilient structures. Can you share some of the challenges you've encountered in the construction market and how you've navigated them? Yeah, absolutely.

I think the biggest challenge, um, is that this is really new to the US market. So it, it, you know, architects, engineers, builders, this isn't something that they're used to. It's not something that they're comfortable with.

So I think our biggest challenge has been not just manufacturing and distributing the panels, but also building that support, training and education into our business model. Um, to really equip and empower everyone from the beginning of the design team all the way through your gc, your builder, and then the end client to know what they're getting, how to do it, how it works, um, you know, and offering that support so that people can utilize this new system. Because if we just come out and say, Hey, we've got this whole new thing, but nobody knows how to design with it, nobody knows how to build with it, then, you know, really it, it's not a viable option.

So really the support and the training I think has been the biggest challenge to tackle, um, that we've seen so far. That's great. Well, looking ahead, what are the prospects do you see for disaster resilient construction and what are the emerging trends or breakthroughs that you're particularly excited about?

You know, I think concrete, um, in the next few decades is, is really gonna be huge. There's some phenomenal new, um, 100% recyclable concrete that I've seen that's gone into testing that people are working with. Um, but I think that as a market, we're gonna be moving away from the lumber industry and more to the concrete because it can be so much more eco-friendly.

Um, it's so much easier to work with and it's so much more resilient. So I think concrete's gonna be a really big trend. Um, and I think as a result of that, that's gonna be helping a lot with the resiliency and the safety in the natural disasters, fires, um, tornadoes, hurricanes, all of those things.

Thank you so much, Annette. It was a pleasure to speak with you. Annette Rubin, CEO of Vero Building Systems for sharing.

She shared her insights on into transformative the potential of skip technology and its role in advancing tech-driven resilience in construction. Annette, thank you. Thanks Bonnie.

Thanks for having me. Sure. We'll stay with us on Techstrong tv.

We'll have more great interviews coming up.