I know I know, it’s been ages since I wrote a post but we’ve been absolutley, rediculously busy. Natural Building Solutions have been busy working on various restoration jobs and are currently spray rendering a large farmhouse near Honiton and Back to Earth has had so many enquiries for materials for different projects that I have spent the last 6 weeks sat at my desk calculating quantities and prices for around 10 large projects, 5 of which are Hemcrete. Long may it continue!!!
Natural Building Solutions have various large projects coming up soon and are going to need to take on another member of staff to be able to cope with the scale of the projects. I think I might have to get them a little motor home as well as the projects are spread out around the South West from near Plymouth all the way up to Stroud in Gloucestershire.
Back at the beginning of March was Ecobuild. I spent the Tuesday wandering around, chatting to our suppliers and looking at all of the materials on offer. Apart from a huge increase in the amount of ‘greenwash’ that was being liberally spread (aparently concrete is really ‘green’ now because it is produced locally!!) about there was no real change from last year.I don’t wish to brag but I think our suppliers produce the best, genuinely sustainable, high quality building materials.
We recently became distributors for a fantastic German company called Unger, who sell a range of wood fibre insulation systems. These were the inventors of the wood fibre insulation systems and are the most innovative company dealing with the products. They are regularly coming up with new products to improve the way in which the systems work and are the only manufacturer we know of that has designed renders and plasters specifically for the boards and are prepared to give a 15 year garantee on them. Until recently the systems were quite cost effective but with the massive devaluation of the pound their cost has risen. They are still worth considering but the payback period on using some of the systems has gone from 3-4 years up to 5-6 years, however they are possibly the best retrofit exterior insulation system on the market. See the website for more details.
The devaluation of the pound has had some unforeseen benefits however. The manufacturers of the Thermoplan block have decided to manufacture in the UK now which will reduce their price by anything up to 30%. Also, the manufacturers of some of our lime renders will be doing the same with a similar reduction in cost, so it’s not all bad at all.
Finally, we shall be exhibiting at the ‘Homes for Good’ show again this year which will be at the Westpoint Arena near Exeter, Devon if any of you would like to come and see us face to face. See http://www.ecostrust.org.uk/h4g/ for details and how to get tickets, etc.
I’ll try not to leave it so long next time!!
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To the untrained observer it might seem like we haven’t been writing any blogs for a while. There may in fact be an element of truth to that but it doesn’t mean that we have been idle…..Or had nothing to write about….We were just very busy. We have actually been busy sorting things out with a German supplied of Wood Fibre insulation products which will shortly be coming to the website. Assuming Christmas isn’t too fun packed, shortly into the New Year there should be some pages on the products with downloadable brochures and specifications.
The products are all based around wood fibres, which mostly come from pulped waste softwood from the timber industry. Most are formed in to boards of various thicknesses and have uses ranging from simple insulation to sarking boards and boards which can be rendered with only a 6mm render. The boards perform extremely well in terms of insulation but also have very high levels of heat storage, enabling them to even out internal temperatures of buildings very effectively. As the boards are made from waste timber they are extremely sustainable and fairly competitive on price.
The company we’ve joined fores with is called Unger-Diffutherm and the range is Udi and it really is a complete range of complete systems for virtually every possible scenario. They’ve even managed to form wood fibres into a flexible slab, much like sheeps wool, which gives very good thermal insulation but also great ease of installation.
We are hoping to run courses for contractors next year which would train them to install the materials and enable them to offer a 15 year guarantee. No other manufacturer offers this yet so it should be a good selling point for the materials and for Eco-Builders alike.
I’ll try not to leave it so long before the next blog this time.
Finally, after a mere 18 months we have manged to get the new website up and running for the construction side of Back to Earth, Natural Building Solutions. The site has the same clean, fresh look that this one does but covers how we work, the materials we use and some portfolio projects we have recently completed. It has been a really good exercise to get the site up and running as we have had to tie up various loose ends to enable us to complete it. There are still a few finished photos to come yet but basically it’s there.
The site’s portfolio contains various examples of cob newbuild and repairs that we have undertaken this year. They aren’t necessarily the most complex cob repairs that we have ever done but they are recent. The Hemcrete buildings featured in the site are good examples but we have some much larger projects coming through which may replace them. The lime rendering examples show a good snapshot of how we use various methods to apply the different types of renders we use, normally dependent on substrate and location.
The site has also outlined the benefits of being able to offer a complete service to customers. From initial sale, technical support and practical advice to on-site training or complete installation. The overwhelming response from architects and customers new to these materials is positive, they greatly appreciate our experience and practical knowledge.
See what you think at http://www.naturalbuildingsolutions.co.uk.
Has anyone seen the sun around here lately?? This weather is beginning to really grate on us all now. The huge rainwater harvesting system we put in back in the spring has barely been below full capacity and is beginning to create it’s own little ecosystem within the tanks. Wonderful and very interesting though this is, it doesn’t do the pumps much good when they suck it all up!!
We are now on our second round of CPD presentations to architects which includes a wider range of materials. We cover earth in modern construction, Thermafleece sheep’s wool insulation and the wonderful Thermoplan block system with a Hemcrete update at the end of it all. We also show the BBC’s Working Lunch Video which is a fantastic, impartial overview of the first large-scale housing development in Suffolk to use Hemcrete. It has again been really well received and gives us a great opportunity to talk to architects involved in sustainable projects around the region.
Our construction side has now formally been branded as ‘Natural Building Solutions’ and we are in the process of getting a website up and running with lots of information about the services that it provides, the materials used and examples of recent projects completed. The theme of the site will be similar to the main Back to Earth site but will use a different colour scheme and some different branding. We’ve decided to go a little more wacky with this site and have lots of hemp leaves dotted around it which will hopefully stimulate interest all by itself!!
Natural Building Solutions has been making leaps and bounds with both Hemcrete construction and with the new spray render system we are using. The team has recently completed a large garden studio/garage up near Wellington in Somerset, this building was then finished using the Limetec Basecoat render, a pre-mixed, dry, hydraulic lime render. The render was spray applied and planed back to give a soft, flowing finish which tied in well with the adjacent old cob house.
The render sprayer is also capable of spraying ready mixed lime putty mortars as well, which was put to good use on an old Farmhouse near Crediton. Re-rendering the walls consumed 18 tons of lime mortar, the spraying also made the job extremely easy and probably saved a couple of weeks in time and an awful lot of manual handling in the process. We have yet to invest in the Hemcrete sprayer as the size of the jobs we are currently undertaking doesn’t warrant us taking on a small mortgage to pay for it just yet. Judging by the number of projects we are seeing on drawing boards though, it will not be too long before we do.
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The two local seminars that we have held have been a great success. It was a really good chance to meet more of the smaller, local architects who it has not been practical to visit but who are still just as keen to go green and the response has been fantastic.
The first of the seminars consist of a talk about Lime and Earth, their uses and why they should be used more and an overview of Thermafleece insulation and also the Thermoplan blocks from NBT. The second session is all about Hemcrete with a video at the end of it showing how and where it has been used etc.
We have seen over 30 different practices in the two seminars and are looking to hold another two in the Autumn for other practices that were not able to attend or for other architects from practices we have seen that haven’t attended our sessions. The recent publicity on the Grand Designs shows and all of the promotion we have been doing has increased the attention focussed on Hemcrete and increased the number of enquiries we are receiving.
The recent huge hike in oil prices has made life rather uncomfortable for most people and although financially painful it has made us all think about how to use less fuel, both in our vehicles and our homes. Unfortunately it takes this sort of pinch to wake us all up and realise that we need to change the way we use energy, the way we build and the way we all move about our little planet. A recent report in the NewScientist suggested that for every dollar rise in petrol prices in the US, sales of SUV’s decreased by 25%, so much so that General Motors has said that they will soon discontinue production of these vehicles, we can only hope that others will follow!! Who says expensive oil is a bad thing!!
The other upside to high oil prices are that investment and research into alternative technologies also increases. The cost of oil based products or products reliant on cheap energy also increases such that products such as Hemcrete become even more cost effective and therefore attractive, really kick-starting large scale sustainable construction. This move toward alternative technologies will only do us good!!
The Homes for Good exhibition, at the Bath & West showground, was great for us. We saw around 250 people over the two days, which may not sound that many but we were all talked out with sore feet by the end of it. Our practical demonstration of how easy it is to build with Hemcrete and the earth plaster demo were a real help as it showed people that all of our materials really are just as easy to use as other mainstream materials, if not easier. All of the mess and noise that we made were also quite a draw……or maybe irritation if you were another exhibitor!!!
We shall also be exhibiting at the Bath & West Show this year, running from the 28th to the 31st of May, as part of the ECOS Trust stand. They are exhibiting a timber framed building with various different sustainable systems making up the walls, one of which will be Hemcrete. So if you want to be able to ride some fairground rides and learn about sustainable construction, this is the show to come to!!!!!!!??????
The fruits of our promo drive over the last 10 months are finally coming to bear. We have now quoted to supply or install for 16 Hemcrete houses, with another 3 or 4 projects in the pipeline and are now making some good sales. Its a modest but reassuring response from the many architects and developers that we’ve seen. With the incredible interest that the manufacturers have received in the last year or so this figure is set to rise hugely.
This year we have set a couple of dates for seminars for people to come to, which is designed to be a format that small practices or individuals can come to and see the materials and discuss any queries they have with them. We have two events booked in so far, one just outside Crediton at the Waie Inn on the 14th of May and another at the Genesis Project in Taunton on the 3rd of june, which will be easier for those coming from Bristol and Bath. The events are open to anyone who wishes to come along and learn more about our range of materials, the benefits they give and how to use them. Just call us on 01363 866999 to book a place.
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!!
Apologies to anyone who was actually waiting for us to write another blog, despite having a fairly quiet time just after Christmas we seem to have been playing catch-up with everything not finished last year and unfortunately the blog was left out in the cold.
It has been a fairly steady start to the year with both the construction and products sides being fairly quiet. However now we have reached the end of February everything has picked up rather dramatically and we are wondering why we didn’t relax and enjoy the quiet time.
It’s time for Ecobuild – Hoorah! We are looking forward to some really exciting products on the stands this year. The organisers have actually dragged in some real eco companies and products this time as last year consisted of around five really novel products with the rest of the stands being occupied by architects, ground source heat pump manufacturers and solar panel manufacturers, oh and loads of concrete!!??.
AbeySmallcombe will be on the Natural Materials Live stand and will be demonstrating cob building, various natural construction materials (of which some are ours!) and will be giving people ideas on how to green themselves. There will be a Tradical Hemcrete stand from Lhoist, Lime Technology and Hemcore and Akristos, the manufacturers of our clay-plasterboard blocks will also be there. The exhibitors list is pretty extensive so I should allow plenty of time to walk around if you are going, there should be some really interesting things to see.
We won’t be exhibiting at Ecobuild but I shall be giving a talk in the Accoya Theatre on Earth construction at 11.50 on the Tuesday, all hecklers welcome. Our first show of the year is the Homes For Good exhibition at the Bath & West showground (see http://www.ecostrust.org.uk/h4g/) at which we shall be exhibiting and speaking.
We look forward to seeing you at one or the other!!
I could get morbid and say ‘Ah, the end of another year, where did it go, they go so quickly these days, what have we done with this year’. However, we’ve had a fantastic year, we’ve reached out to 85 different architectural practices in the South West in the last 6 months and we have somewhere between 10 and 15 projects in the pipeline for next year. We know exactly what we’ve done this year, we have the bags beneath our eyes and the mileage on our cars to show for it (using biodiesel of course!!)
Next year, calamitous recession withstanding, in the South West we shall see the first truly sustainable mainstream houses being built using some of the wonderful materials that we have brought together. We have been absolutely bowled over by the interest we are receiving.
Christmas will be a good chance for us to rest and recuperate after a very busy year, it’ll give us a chance to plan how we move forward next year. We try to get information out to as many people as possible who we think it will be of interest to, however, if you have any ideas which may help please let us know!!
We wish you all a Happy Christmas and New Year. Thank you for reading this blog, as a couple of thousand of you do each month, it’s wonderful to know you’re interested.
Now put your feet up and get ready for the Towering Inferno or The Great Escape!!
We have come to the rather sad decision that we have to sell our first demonstration building. It has proved too large and costly to keep moving from show to show and is too heavy to fit on the trailer we have. Anyone looking for a 2.3m square garden office? It’ll be nice and warm!!! If you’d like more info please call or email us.
In Swindon on the 15th, 16th and 17th of November we attended the Big Green Home Show at the National Self Build and Renovation Centre. It was great for us as we met around 150 people over the 3 days we were there, most of whom were serious self builders or developers. The interest in our product range was huge, mostly in the Hemcrete and the Thermoplan blocks. We even managed to get Dick Strawbridge interested in it all and he’ll hopefully be incorporating some of them into his shows.
Whilst at the show we made contact with the makers of Thermafleece and will also be shortly incorporating this product into our range. We are slowly building up a good portfolio of products which we feel are extremely good alternatives to the conventional norm and combine ease of use with fantastic environmental credentials.
On a final note, did everyone hear about the latest IPCC report, see our resources page for a link. Even the USA are finally admitting that climate change is happening. The outlook is potentially worrying and yet it is still business as usual for most people. We need to start addressing our own actions and their consequences and not wait for the government to start legislating. Time is running out!!