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Strawbale UK’s online event: Alex Burch presents, “How do strawbale walls perform in severe wind-driven rain conditions?”
Comparisons with global climates revealed the unique challenge West Wales poses for strawbale construction. Many studies have focused on measuring internal humidity and temperature of strawbale walls to determine moisture content, however, these often lacked information specific to the climate of West Wales. Alex’s work aimed to find the best method to measure moisture content…
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London’s Building Centre
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Strawbale UK’s online event with Juraj George Mikurcik and Old Holloway
The video of our online event with George and his home, Old Holloway, is now on our YouTube channel Watch it here and share with your network!
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SBUK online event. Old Holloway: An award-winning straw panel house.
Architect George Mikurcik began work on his home 14 years ago. It was the first Ecococon home built in the UK, is an award winning site and George will be discussing with us the concept, the build and sharing supporting data at our meeting. Join us to hear the stories behind this groundbreaking home and…
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SBUK Members’ meeting Special: Timber and Insurance
Join us at our next Members’ meeting Special on Wednesday 9th November, 7pm – 8pm. Our guest speaker is Joe Giddings of ‘Built by Nature’ and he will be discussing, ‘Timber and Insurance‘. Many of you that are involved with the practical elements of building with low carbon / natural materials will understand that the sector presently has…
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MIscanthus – sbuk video
The video of our event: ‘MIscanthus – what it is and how can it benefit the sector?’ is now available to view. Thank you to our guest Fabrice Ntimugura for a brilliant presentation. Watch the video here: https://youtu.be/jr2dO29sXys
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sbuk online event – Miscanthus: How can the construction sector benefit with its use?
Did you know that Miscanthus has water vapour permeability properties compatible with that in traditional construction and sequesters carbon (around 130 kg CO2eq/m3)? Join us on Wednesday 6th July, 7pm (GMT) as we discuss the building potential in construction of this bio based material. The talk will be led by PHD Research student, Fabrice Ntimugura…
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msc module review: sustainable materials in the built environment – cat
As part of my MSc in Green Building – Centre for Alternative Technology (cat.org.uk) at the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) we had great fun on the “Sustainable Materials in the Built Environment” module in May 2022 experimenting on site with clay, lime, hemp, straw, miscanthus, cork, rammed earth and other novel materials. It is a fantastic…
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Building to net zero: costing carbon in construction – Environmental audit committee report
This report stresses that “from residential to commercial buildings, the UK’s built environment is responsible for 25% of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions. The Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) warns that to date there has been a lack of Government impetus or policy levers to assess and reduce these emissions. With climate deadlines looming, urgent action…
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straw construction in the uk – technical guide 2022
We are very excited to announce that the ‘Technical Guide’ for Straw Construction, is now out! The Technical Guide is a vital component within the EU-INTERREG funded project, ‘UPSTRAW’, the aim of which is to promote the benefits and good practice of constructing with straw. Authored by The School of Natural Building (SNaB), who were…
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SBUK step review 2022
Under the guidance of course leader, Hubert Gruber, our SBUK Director, Kit Jones, participated in the latest edition of the ‘STEP’ programme. STEP (Strawbuilding Training for European Professionals) is a strawbuilding course (online & practical) which is curated and led by qualified and professional builders. We, at SBUK, endorse the STEP curriculum and will utilise…
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‘the last straw’
In Winter 1993 a publication entered the built environment, etching its name as a hallowed journal for straw as a construction material – The Last Straw. Emanating from USA the first issue had a national/regional take on straw construction: structural testing in Tucson; construction of an eight sided strawbale house; the Genesis farm in New…
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UK’s First ever EPD for Straw!
For the first time this gives an accurate assessment of the environmental impact of straw production in the UK. This was made possible by the European Up Straw INTERREG funded project. Led by The School of Natural Building this Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) is hugely significant as it not only stamps its importance in the…
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How easy is it to find and use natural building materials? riba interview with Janna lann/grain architecture
Here is a great article by RIBA on natural building materials featuring Grain Architecture’s Janna Laan Lomas. Janna will be presenting at RIBA’s online event: Guerilla Tactics, 9th – 11th November. Programme details are HERE and tickets are HERE A project of Grain Architecture‘s is below, built in collaboration SBUK members Joe Duirwyn (Hartwyn) and…
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Households declare
Energising our buildings has never become more important than now. The savvy among you would have been content to be up to speed with an ‘EPC’ or ‘U-Value’ but nowadays, the general public in the UK are seeing terminologies such as, ‘Whole House Approach’, ‘External Wall Insulation’ (EWI), ‘Internal Wall Insulation’ (IWI), ‘PAS 2035’ and…
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job: sbuk secretary role
We have a vacancy on our Board. For a full specification of the role, please see and apply here: SBUK Secretary Good luck!
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building the future studio 3 arts community centre
The School of Natural Building are working with Studio 3 Arts to build an extension on their community centre. Designed by architects company, Citizens Design Bureau and built by GPF Lewis and Wellspring Architecture, this is a transformation in London’s Barking and Dagenham. Read more here Not only is the work carried out using low…
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european strawbale gathering (ESBG) – sbuk webinar 2021
The full video of our ESBG webinar 2021 is now available here: click on a timestamp below, or, on one of the images to go to directly to a chapter 00:00 History of ESBG & introduction to SBUK’s webinar by Cypren Edmunds 07:29 StrawBale Building Basics with Phil Christopher 26:24 Cement Free Foundations with Barbara…
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architect climate action network – video of masterclass: straw
Now online for you to view at your leisure is the ‘Straw’ Masterclass we took part in last month. Thank you ACAN 🙌 💚 for the platform to speak about this beautiful, natural material & to all speakers who participated. Click on the image below for the video Enjoy 🙂🌾👷🏾♂️👷🏗🏠
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ESBG 2021: Feedback Form
How did we do? Click image below to fill out quick survey. Thank you!
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ESBG 2021 – SBUK Presenters: barbara jones
‘Cement Free Foundations’ Saturday 31st July 1035 – 1135 BST online (Zoom) ‘Straw and Building Regulations’ Saturday 31st July 1225 – 1245 BST online (Zoom) Barbara Jones is a strawbale building guru having set up construction companies Straw Works, and Amazon Nails. She is the author of Building with Straw Bales – the most comprehensive guide…
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ESBG 2021 – SBUK Presenters: paul jennings
‘Airtighness’ Saturday 31st July 1400 – 1420 BST online (Zoom) Paul Jennings of Aldas, is the most experienced airtightness tester and consultant in the UK, and, with over 30 years’ experience originated the “Airtightness Champion” concept. He developed the 12 Steps to Airtightness approach to enable UK contractors to reliably deliver airtightness in Passivhaus and other low-energy…
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ESBG 2021 – SBUK Webinar
Saturday 31st July 1000-1540 BST online (Zoom) ESBG events start on Friday and finish on Sunday. The full schedule of ESBG events is viewable here: https://strawbuilding.eu Sign up for tickets using this link and on Friday and Saturday morning you will be sent information on how to join the sessions using Zoom and YouTube. On Saturday…
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ESBG 2021 – SBUK Presenters: chris hawker
‘Straw Building Project Examples’ Saturday 31st July 1155 – 1225 BST online (Zoom) Chris Hawker is a founder and co-director of Hawkland Ecological Construction, along with his business partner David Copeland. Hawkland specialise in the use of appropriate materials, with a focus on sustainability and occupant health. They have delivered several straw projects using structural…
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ESBG 2021 – SBUK Presenters: jeffrey hart
‘Straw and Mud – A Love Story’ Saturday 31st July 1440 – 1500 BST online (Zoom) Jeffrey Hart is a builder specialising in natural materials to create high performance, healthy homes. He is a founding member of SBUK and his podcast series, Building Sustainability Podcast, where he talks to designers, builders, dreamers and doers in…
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ESBG 2021 – SBUK Presenters: joe duirwyn
‘Whole Life Carbon – What it is and what it means to our material choices’ Saturday 31st July 1420 – 1440 BST online (Zoom) Joe has worked at the sustainable end of construction for over 20 years. With a strong background in conventional building he has consistently worked towards a more integrated approach where sustainability…
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ESBG 2021 – SBUK Presenters: phil christopher
‘Straw Building Basics’ Saturday 31st July 1015-1035 BST online (Zoom) Phil Christopher is an environmentalist, builder and trainer and he believes passionately in making a low-impact lifestyle an attractive possibility for everyone. Phil runs Huff and Puff Construction, specialising in straw bale and sustainable building, training and design. Phil is also part of Straw-bale Building UK…
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ACAN’s Natural Materials Masterclass: Straw
We are very excited to be a part of this very special event – it is the perfect accompaniment to launch ESBG 2021 the following day Join us as SBUK founding members, Phil Christopher, Barbara Jones, Joe Duirwyn and Cypren Edmunds present topics across the colouful kaleidoscope of constructing with straw, at ACAN’s second episode…
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European StrawBale Gathering (ESBG) 2021
As members of ESBA we are proud to announce our virtual/online participation of European StrawBale Gathering (ESBG) on Friday 30th July – Sunday 1st August 2021 The full programme and Tickets are available here: E.S.B.A. The three days will feature: educational, ‘live’ and Q&A sessions from SBUK and our fellow members of E.S.B.A. (European StrawBale…
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Vote for ‘The Bale House’
Final day for voting for the #GreenSolution awards. Vote here
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Green Solutions Award 2021 – Vote for ‘The Bale House’!
🏆 The Bale House 🇬🇧Located in a UK Nature Reserve in Hastings this constructed with recycled, fireproof, and breathable materials. A unique straw bale building that requires next to no energy to run and stays comfortable all year long due to its high insulation. This UPSTRAW Project uses natural materials such as lime, wood and…
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the bale house
Wow! Check out at the latest video update of the ‘Bale House’ by the Constrawtium team!
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is there enough straw to build with?
John Butler has been digging away in the vaults of Government data and statistics to ascertain the answer to one of the most often asked questions we receive, “Is there enough straw to build”? The figures are interestingly optimistic (we shan’t spoilt it for you!). Dig in and sift through this very vital piece of…
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UPSTRAW Yearbook 2020
The UPSTRAW Yearbook 2020 is now released. Starting in 2017, this project is a collaboration between European countries (Belgium, France, Germany Netherlands and Hastings – UK) via INTERREG, with the theme of ‘public investment in straw building’ – including five new public buildings built using straw and other natural materials. Other project outcomes covered in…
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Women in Construction – International Women Day
Three fantastic women, 3 leaders of industry. As founding members of Strawbale UK these women have been with us from the start and today are as integral to our vision: Mary Rawlinson, SBUK Chair, Green and Castle & Constrawtium, Barbara Jones of Straw Works, Eileen Sutherland School of Natural Building
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Holy Trinity’s Airtightness testing
Last year, SBUK member Dr Judith Thornton wrote a paper on Airtightness, of which we referenced here: https://strawbalebuildinguk.com/airtightness-and-natural-building-materials-by-judith-thornton Richard Dormandy has led the work on Holy Trinity Tulse Hill’s strawbale building, the ‘Neigbourhood Hub’, and you can watch The Holy Trinity ‘airtightness’ videos here: Airtightness Part 1 What it is and Why it Matters Airtightness…
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UPSTRAW Database of Strawbale Buildings
The School of Natural Building team are drawing up a complete and comprehensive database of strawbale buildings in the UK and Ireland! Interreg Database of Strawbale buildingsThrough their partnership with other European countries, funded by Interreg and called UP Straw, the School of Natural Building (SNaB) is drawing up a database of all known strawbale…
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UPSTRAW YEAR BOOK 2019
A new online publication has arrived: UPSTRAW YEAR BOOK 2019 This edition begins with an introduction on the benefits of building with straw. Watch out for forthcoming issues! These will feature projects on the INTERREG project and technical articles ➡️ ➡️ ️ ➡️ UPSTRAW
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Futurebuild 2020
Visiting @FuturebuildNow today? Go see Barbara Jones @strawworks at the #NaturalBuilding area, stand G70 Together with @Terra_Perma_EB, @EarthBuildingUK, and @lime_products it is a full day of building demonstrations lined up for today and tomorrow!
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Constrawtium update
Wow! Work on the Visitors’ Centre in Hastings is going through at a rapid pace. Plywood is up and one of the Constrawtium crew is sanding it down before applying the wax for a surface finish Instagram: @constrawtium
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Airtightness and natural building materials by Judith Thornton
This is a great introductory blog to those of you who are new to the idea of working with natural building materials. It challenges the outcomes of what is considered ‘airtight’ and the relevancy of that within construction and comfortability to the user. It is easy to understand and with no jargon, so it is…
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ESBG 2019 #UPSTRAW Todmorden, Yorkshire – Straw sharing
This was a day for sharing techniques, networking, providing examples of new strawbale buildings, promoting the developments in straw bale building in Europe, more workshops…and playing with Lego in Todmorden’s Hippodrome theatre. Phew!
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ESBG 2019 #UPSTRAW, Todmorden, Yorkshire. Straw goes public & in Communities
To say that this event was spectacular is an understatement. Visitors from across Europe went on guided tours of buildings made of straw in the locality, attended workshops, expert speakers’ delivered jaw-dropping presentations and, we had a ceilidh. Bring on the next European Straw Bale Gathering.
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ESBG 2019
The European Straw Bale Gathering (ESBG) is a biennial event, which the UK is privileged to be hosting, for the first time, in Todmorden, West Yorkshire. Tickest are available here ESBG this year is part of the Interreg funded UP Straw project. In keeping with the aims of UP Straw, we will be demonstrating the…
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Our aim – To promote straw bale building and best practice within the sector
Our aim – To promote straw bale building and best practice within the sector
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Add your skills to the ESBA database
We started the Skills-Database on ESBA website. If you are interested to offer your work also in other countries, please fill out this form (its free). Skills (natural building) Have a look here what others offer: http://www.strawbuilding.eu/category/skills/