‘The Back to Earth Roadshow’ is the rather grandiose name we have given our rolling program of CPD presentations, we have presented to 21 practices so far with another 40 or so booked in up to Christmas. I suspect that Christmas may be time for a rest as most people will probably thinking about Christmas cheer and holly rather than Hemcrete.
We are still getting an overwhelmingly positive response from everyone we speak and present to, from small, local practices up to international companies. We are able to show them that the cost, which is still the highest priority, is within the same range as those for conventional materials but there is still some resistance to change. However, the green centre of the world, Totnes, seems to be embracing it and we are talking directly to clients about using Hemcrete in their new projects already.
We are still making progress with new products and hope to be stocking the hemp wool insulation in October along with a very innovative insulated clay block that can help drastically reduce heat losses through floors and foundations. Our main focus is still on sustainable masonry but when we see other innovative products we will try to bring them on board too.
From the PR that we’ve been doing, we have now got several Hemcrete projects lined up for our construction team. The largest is a barn conversion which will have Hemcrete in the roof and Hemcoat hemp plaster walls. The roof has an area of 400 square meters with a wall area of 320 square meters, this will lock up a total of 19.6 tonnes of CO2.
We now have the first of our rather bright delivery vans with hemp leaves all over it, keep your eye out, you probably won’t miss it!!