June 2016

Over the bank holiday weekend, I volunteered with the Low Carbon Trust and Brighton Permaculture Trust helping with a straw bale building course. The weekend was made great by it being such an interesting and engaged group. Foundations, best practices and building regulations were covered in the classroom, and outside we built the structure of a small load-bearing (Nebraska style) strawbale room.

I love straw. It’s quick to grow, cheap and is a renewable material that’s in abundance. Its breathable, highly insulating and composts at the end of its life cycle. Its an incredibly versatile material, and can be load bearing, infill for timber structures or even pre-fabricated.

The photos below tell some of the stories of the weekend.