Materials scientist and consultant Dr Dorian Hanaor lays out a science-first, value-based playbook for materials that scale in the real world, sceptical of hype, clear on certification, and pragmatic about hydrogen.
1. "Start With the Science, Not the Story". What changes when teams actually do that?
You begin with loads, environments, codes and costs rather than a pitch. That means defining the job to be done, quantifying constraints, and selecting materials that meet them with measured properties and a repeatable production route. If a team can’t show test data, pass/fail criteria and credible scale-up steps, the narrative is irrelevant. The discipline is dull but decisive: measurement plans, representative trials, known failure modes, supplier capability checks. Good stories mobilise people; only physics, standards and process control decide what can ship next quarter without nasty surprises.
2. You say sustainability is “about value, not virtue.” What is value in practice?
Value is performance over time per unit cost and impact. A durable, maintainable, safe system with accessible spares often beats a fashionable alternative that requires frequent replacement or specialist labour. Whole-life thinking matters: service life, repairability, energy in use, and decommissioning. “Virtue” language hides risk when it adds complexity, tooling changes, or uncertain compliance. Value thinking looks application by application: for this use, over this lifetime, does the choice measurably improve outcomes and reduce risk? If not, it’s branding, not engineering.
3. Built environment, built culture. How do materials shape behaviour?
Buildings teach habits. The tactile and acoustic properties of timber change how people occupy space; robust steel and concrete frames enable spans and uses that timber alone may not. Culture feeds back into material choices through codes, training and trades. I’m not romantic about any single material: engineered wood and steel are code-friendly, widely available and backed by deep experience. That reliability is cultural infrastructure; it keeps spaces safe, repairable and comfortable. We should add novelty where it truly adds resilience, not for the brochure.
4. Where does “the hype” do the most damage in materials adoption?
Three places. First, scale: pilot data created under tight hand control rarely survives mass production, where yield, scrap and QA dominate. Second, compliance: food-contact, fire, odour and emissions rules are non-negotiable; many teams budget weeks where the calendar says months. Third, circularity: disassembly and adhesives are usually afterthoughts; without them, recyclability is aspirational. Hype sells a future state; operations must ship on Tuesday. Honest engineering lays out the unglamorous steps between the two.
5. What’s your short take on hydrogen in the built environment?
Hydrogen is a tool, not a creed. For space heating and light-duty transport, direct electrification (heat pumps, battery EVs) typically delivers higher system efficiency and lower total cost. Hydrogen shines as a feedstock (e.g., ammonia) and in certain industrial reductions such as ironmaking. The critical lens is pathway efficiency plus infrastructure reality: compression, leakage, conversion losses, and safety. If the electrical route already works with commodity hardware, start there. Save hydrogen for use-cases where energy density or process chemistry truly demand it.
6. Give one example where a “greener” option under-performs value.
Novel bio-derived coatings can look attractive, but if they reduce service life, complicate repair, or introduce odour/emissions issues that delay certification, the whole-life footprint worsens. A conventional system with excellent durability, known maintenance cycles and easy end-of-life handling may deliver lower impact *in practice*. The point isn’t origin; it’s outcomes. Measure durability, serviceability and safety first, then argue sustainability with numbers rather than labels.
7. What do buyers underestimate in certification and testing?
Lead times and the granularity of failure. Emissions and odour testing, migration in food-contact, fire performance—none are box-ticking; they’re programmes with sampling plans, pre-conditioning and iterative failure analysis. Small formulation changes or new suppliers reset the clock. The best teams pre-align with labs, run representative pre-tests, and budget calendar time for re-runs. It’s slower and more expensive than slides suggest, but far cheaper than a recall.
8. From pilot to 100k units/month: what typically breaks first?
Process control. Hand-built prototypes hide variability; at scale, curing, bonding, moisture and temperature windows tighten. Tooling tolerances and dwell times that looked “fine” before now drive scrap. Upstream supply changes—resin lots, fibre moisture—cascade into yield. The fix is tedious: SPC on the critical few variables; supplier incoming QC; fixtures that enforce repeatability; and an honest cost of scrap in the business case. Romance ends at the production line.
9. What single KPI would you ask teams to track more rigorously?
Field-verified service life for the specific application, not a catalogue claim. Pair it with an explicit maintenance plan and a realistic spare-parts policy. If you can lengthen intervals between interventions, or make them simpler and safer, you often beat alternatives with prettier embodied-carbon numbers but shorter lives. In procurement, “years between meaningful interventions per €” is often more useful than headline LCA marketing.
10. How should founders frame LCA so it helps, not confuses?
Declare system boundaries and the big sensitivities. Be clear about data sources, allocation rules and end-of-life assumptions. Show a tornado chart of what swings outcomes most, and discuss uncertainty. Most importantly, link LCA to engineering: if a parameter drives the result, what design or process change could move it? LCA is a decision tool, not a trophy; treat it like one.
11. What genuinely gives you hope?
Teams that measure before they market. Cross-disciplinary collaboration is improving: better sensors, better modelling, and more humility about failure. There’s also renewed respect for proven materials, engineered wood, and steel, combined with design for longevity and repair. That blend of rigour and modesty makes the built environment safer and more comfortable without relying on fragile supply chains or wishful thinking.
12. Your one-sentence advice to founders pitching new materials.
Talk to the installer first, the test lab second, and your marketing team last, and bring data that survives both conversations.
Lines That Linger
“Engineering is trade-offs, not a morality play—physics decides what ships.”
“Value is performance over time, not virtue signalling in a deck.”
Work With Dorian
TOCCO is proud to spotlight experts like Dorian who bridge the gap between deep science and practical sustainability.
As part of this collaboration, Dorian is offering a limited number of free advisory sessions to startups, investors, and innovators working in materials for the built environment.
