REPLACING bricks and mortar as the industry standard for building homes sounds like a huge undertaking but for a Barnsley firm, it’s proving easier than it sounds.

Dena, based on Beevor Street, is preparing to launch a range of buildings that can form anything from emergency accommodation and sterile isolation units to a three-bedroom home - all made from recycled end-of-life tyres.

The process is the culmination of years of work in nanotechnology - manipulating individual atoms and molecules - that’s seen Dena effectively create a new material.

Founder Dr Brian Sulaiman said: “Initially we were just looking to make decking or roofing, and then the idea expanded into housing.

“We started changing the formula to suit the flooring, the wall, the door, and we tested it all.

“And at the end of that you’ve got all the components you want to make a house so we thought, why don’t we make the house?

“It worked - nobody in the world had this idea. Nothing like this exists.”

Full story: page 12.