Will Stanwix, co-author of ‘The Hempcrete Book: Designing and building with hemp-lime’ will be running a workshop at the Big Straw Bale Gathering teaching you how to create you own clay straw blocks. Learn about how to vary the mix to create insulating blocks or mass blocks and how to lay them.  The practical workshops are…

The practical workshops are a massive part of the Big Straw Bale Gathering. A chance for you to learn the hands on skills necessary to build your own home, or brush up on some of the latest techniques. Workshops are included in the ticket price, and will require signing up on the morning of the workshop…

We are so pleased to add Ed and Rowena Waghorn as keynote speakers for the Big Straw Bale Gathering. Their Episode of Grand Designs, which took over 10 years to complete, is a work of art. We are delighted they are coming to share their views on building a home. Name:  Ed and Rowena Waghorn Organisation:…

We are very pleased to add Peter Beresford and Henrik Saarinen from Structural Solutions to the lineup for The Big Straw Bale Gathering. Structural Solutions were the engineers for the Down To Earth Roundhouse that is our venue for the weekend. Their tag team talk is entitled : ‘Structural considerations in straw-bale construction including foundations,…

The majority of our speakers for the Big Straw Bale Gathering are below. We still have a few special guests in the pipeline which will be announced as they are confirmed. As you can see we have a broad spectrum of speakers lined up, speaking on a wide range of topics. Get your tickets now…

Name: Paul Jennings Organisation: Criafolen Permaculture Lecture title: Permaculture Design for Builders Brief description: Permaculture design offers a whole site and beyond basis for builders looking to fit their projects sensitively and sustainably into the landscape and community. This lecture will provide a brief look at the application of Permaculture to building, site and settlement…

Very excited to announce that Barbara Jones of Straw Works and The School of Natural Building will be sharing her wealth of knowledge with you all at the Big Straw Bale Gathering. Speaker Name: Barbara Jones. Organisation: Straw Works and The School of Natural Building. Talk Title: Straw Trek – The Next Generation. Talk description: A journey through…

How into bales is Judith? Well, she just bought her own baling machine to play with! Name: Judith Thornton Company: Aberystwyth University Talk title: What’s in a bale and why it matters Talk description: General discussion on what affects straw bale degradability, alternative straws, potential for bale redesign. Judith’s Bio: Judith is Low Carbon Manager in the BEACON project at…

We are delighted to add Craig White to the lineup for The Big Straw Bale Gathering. Name: Craig White Company: White Design, ModCell Talk Title: We Can Make – Affordable Homes Renewable Materials Talk description: In a world where an affordable home is the oxymoron of our time and the property ladder has no rungs,…

Next up we have Peter Schubert who will be joining us from Vienna. Buy your tickets here Name: Peter Schubert Company: Capital [ A ] architects, Vienna Talk Title: Straw and other regrowing building materials for multi storey housing constructions. Talk description: Structural possibilities, thermal insulation potential & fire safety of different construction methods using timber, straw,…

And we are off! We are very excited to announce Dr Chris Vernon will be giving a talk at The Big Straw Bale Gathering 2018. Chris and his wife Erica have recently built a two story, roundwood timber frame, straw bale house on their One Planet Development smallholding in Carmarthenshire. This project was motivated by…

On Thursday the 1st of March we will start releasing our lineup of speakers for the 2018 Big Straw Bale Gathering. Early bird ticket prices will end at 23:00 Wednesday the 28th of February. We have also updated the event info, so please check out the Big Straw Bale Gathering event page

We are very pleased to announce the early bird tickets for The Big Straw Bale Gathering 2018 are on sale now. Get them early to take advantage of this discount price.   [ecwid widgets=”productbrowser search categories minicart” default_category_id=”27027404″ default_product_id=”0″ minicart_layout=”MiniAttachToProductBrowser”]   SBUK Presents: The Big Straw Bale Gathering 2018 Theme: Sowing the inspiration, growing the…