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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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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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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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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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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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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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UP STRAW Zotero database
Great news! The partners of UP STRAW have collated, through the ‘Zoreto’ platform, an open source database of free reference management tools that allows the user to manage bibliographical data and documents such as websites, videos, scientific articles, books and PDFs. This will cover the regulatory aspects, construction techniques, technical and environmental performance, fire security…
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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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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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From the Australian press…the good news keeps on coming about ESBG 2019
David Thorpe wrote for the Australian on-line journal, The Fifth Estate wrote about ESBG 2019: https://www.thefifthestate.com.au/innovation/public-authorities-should-hold-tenders-for-straw-bale-buildings/ ESBG2019 was supported by INTERREG for the umbrella project ‘UPSTRAW’. As part of the UPSTRAW project a UK consortium, Constrawtium, are undertaking the building of the new Visitors Centre in Hastings So nice to see the love spreading to…
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Constrawtium at The Big Green Fair
This Sunday 29th September, 11am – 4pm, SBUK Director Mary Rawlinson is at the Big Green Fair Mary is representing the Constrawtium group, which is a consortium of UK natural material builders enabled by the INTERREG/UPSTRAW initiative The INTERREG/UPSTRAW deal promotes straw buildings to the public sector and Constrawtium are building the new Visitors’ Centre…
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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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Construction of the Hastings Country Park’s Visitor Centre by Constrawtium
In 2017 we ventured with other members of the INTERREG initiative UPSTRAW, to see the above area for a new Vistors’ Centre in Hastings. Murray Davidson of Hastings Borough Council spoke about the ambition for the proposed build and we explored how to could pool our energies to bring this to frution. In May of…
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SBUK founder members Chris Hawker & David Copeland are Speakers at ESBG 2019
Chris and David have been with SBUK since day one. Respected builders in the industry they bring with them a studious and creative outlook having met whilst studying at the Centre of Alternative Technology. Their expertise will feature in a workshop on straw bale building within a timber frame. Come and see them at esbg2019.org
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#UPSTRAW meets #AUBHUMAN
Next week for @inspiredAUB one of our founding members, Phil Christopher, will be presenting a talk for ‘AUB Human’, in Bournemouth, Tuesday 6th March 2018. And if that isn’t enough ‘Huff and Puff Construction‘ are building a straw venue for the ‘Pop up Cinema’ too! The day comprises of symposiums, talks and workshops ‘created to…