Written by: Nelize Ernst
That’s right! A house built with Hemp…. And I’m definitely not talking about your average stoners den! I’m talking state of the art eco-architecture, a double story house with breath taking sea views of the Noordhoek/Kommetjie valley.
From hempcrete, hemp insulation, hemp particle boards, hemp floors and hemp carpets, to hemp furnishings, hemp textiles, and hemp oil – Tony Budden is man with a serious plan. His approach to eco living is inspirational, real and exciting.
I met up with him at their latest project right on the green belt in Noordhoek, Cape Town – where Tony and his Hemporium partner Duncan Parker, are busy with the Hemp House. The plot is quite steep, which added some design challenges; all necessary to show how HEMP is certainly the ultimate sustainable building material.
So what makes Hemp so brilliant and how does it all fit together?
Hemp Modular Building – the way to go!
Hemp when used in building is valued for its carbon negative rating, lightness, thermal properties and eco-friendliness. The main ways hemp can be used in building are using hemp hurds (the chipped up stalk) mixed with a lime based binder to make hempcrete, compressed hemp hurds to make particle board, and hemp fibre to make insulation mats.
One of the key role players who joined Tony on this project is Erwin van der Weerd from Perfect Places, who has developed a patented system for creating modular houses that are strong, versatile and well insulated. The concept revolves around pre-fabricated corner pieces and t-sections to which the wall panels connect, always on a straight line so that the joins can be concealed and insulated easily.
This method of building can be used to build pretty much anywhere and it saves on security, wastage, site disruption, time and can be adapted to suit any design.
Eco Styling
The greenness continues with double glazed windows attached to thermostats and motors that open and close the windows to regulate the air and keep the temperature even throughout the house.
Eco-friendly paints and varnishes are used on the house along with beautiful hemp carpets and LED lights. The kitchen and bathrooms are to be kitted out with recycled stone counter tops as well as water saving taps and showers. Even the laundry will be taken care off with the new eco bubble washing machine, while the LED TV will provide some entertainment.
Hemp Farming and Building- a new level of greenness!
Hemp stalk produces long strong fibre around a high cellulose stalk.It usually grows up to 4 metres high in as short a period as 4 months and with little input, can yield more than 20 tons of dry matter per hectare. Hemp farming and building absorbs a huge amount of carbon as the hemp grows very fast. This carbon is then locked into the walls, replacing the extremely carbon intensive brick and cement method of building.
Being able to grow hemp locally here in South Africa will allow the building of around 100m2 of house for each hectare grown and create thousands of jobs on the farms and in the factories necessary to support the industry.
Hemp building is fast been recognised as the premier eco-building technique. It already has wider acceptance in the EU and the UK. It seems like South Africa is moving towards that slowly now and projects like this one is exactly what is needed to educate, grow and build our nation and look after all that we have here on planet earth, especially here in breathtaking South Africa.
Final Approach
The house is aimed to be completed just before winter kicks in, around mid March 2011. I am extremely excited to see the end result, so watch this space! In the meantime you can visit Tony’s blog for more in-depth information on the House that Hemp Built – Project.
Hemp House Eco-Partners:
Perfect Places – Builder- Modular Building Concept
B-earth – Paints and Varnishes
Massclusivity – Double Glazing Windows
Hans Grohe – Water Saving Taps and Showers
Coirtex – Hemp Carpets
Cannata – Recycled Stone Countertops
Earth power – LED lights
Green Wind Power & Automation – Thermostats and window motors
LED TV & Eco Bubble Washing Machine – Samsung
The liveeco team
