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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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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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Timber and Insurance – SBUK Video

YouTube video of our members’ meeting with Joe Giddings is available to watch here
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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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ecobuild 2016

SBUK’s members were at this year’s Ecobuild. Together with ‘Natural Building Materials’ groups we displayed and demonstrated the beauty and benefits of constructing with low carbon products.
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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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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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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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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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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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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…