A slightly grand title but it catches your attention!! Ecobuild was a vast improvement this year, the stands were better quality, more varied and were generally ‘eco’ too. This year incorporated Earls Court 1 and 2 and had several hundred exhibitors and had lots of small companies with really innovative products which made a nice change from last year and has given us some new products to add to our range. We hope to be adding some clay based plasters, an insulation made from recycled water bottles and one or two other products to the list.
Tradical Hemcrete has just had it’s LABC approval which is great news. This means that not only will the material pass building control without question but you can also insure projects through the LABC insurance scheme as well as Zurich. This will be a welcome relief to those whose projects are underway or nearing commencement as there were some queries from building control due to their lack of understanding of the material.
We have also had some news from the manufacturers of the Naterra blocks, they are producing a block which will be moisture resistant. This will combine the obvious benefits of using recycled materials with the thermal mass of earth but also the ability to be used for external blockwork. The block is being tested by Hanson (who seem to have taken over everything in the last year) and will be available later on this year. We have a case study which will be posted on the website soon and shows how well the internal block system works.
Finally we have our rainwater harvesting system set up now and will be launching our new ‘rainmortar’ range of lime putty based mortars and plasters. Given that our roof should shed 250,000 litres of water each year this system will save us a fortune in water rates, not to mention make the mortars even ‘greener’. We wear our green halos with pride!!
P.S. We will be at the Homes For Good exhibition at the Bath & West showground at the end of the month, come on down!!