Sustainable Building Techniques Area

Visitors had the opportunity to check out the Sustainable Building Techniques Area at Grand Designs Live 2012. Visitors experienced sustainable and traditional building techniques taking place right before their eyes and learnt some new skills to adapt to their own building plans.

The contributors this year included:

Hackney City Farm

Hackney City Farm is a community hub and environmental education centre bringing green skills and learning to the heart of the city. Set in what remains of a brewery, the farm allows locals, as well as visitors from around the world, to experience face to face elements of the food system. In conjunction with LiLi, the farm is also a place to learn skills and crafts, and acquire knowledge about a range of sustainability disciplines and low impact living from beekeeping to food smoking.

www.hackneycityfarm.co.uk

Hemp-Lime Construct

Hemp-lime Construct are pioneers in the use of hemp-lime composites in small to medium sized building projects including the repair/restoration of historic buildings, hemp/lime plasters and renders, hempcrete new builds and hempcrete solid floors. A real solution to carbon zero or even carbon negative buildings, hempcrete is gaining in popularity.

www.hemp-limeconstruct.co.uk

Earthed

Earthed are artists and builders specialising in cob, roundpole timber framing, lime, and stonework. They undertake private and funded projects, run educational workshops and renovation /repair work and have collaborated with a range of organisations from Wildfowl & Wetland/ Wildlife Trusts and Groundworks, to City Councils, Schools and Museums. They build structures from the functional to the fantastical, from bread ovens and seating to outdoor classrooms and houses.

www.earthedworld.co.uk

LILI

Low-impact Living Initiative (LILI) is a network of great organisations with lots of ways to help you change your life and the world for the better. On their website, for 170 topics, they provide free factsheets, books, magazines, courses all over the UK, online courses, products, services, advice, forum, events and links. 

www.lowimpact.org

MakeMyHomeGreen

MakeMyHomeGreen helps people make money-saving green improvements to their home. They can help a home owner reduce their energy bills by 60%-70%, saving £840 on an average home. They can also deliver the work to improve your home through our team of trusted installers. From initial energy assessments right through to whole house retrofits, MakeMyHomeGreen is a 'one stop shop' service for home owners wanting to improve their homes and maximise their energy efficiency.

www.makemyhomegreen.com

Real Refurbs

Real Refurbs is an organisation set up to educate, inspire and encourage homeowners to undertake retrofit projects to turn existing properties into low(er) energy homes. They aim to help homeowners develop the knowledge necessary to undertake a DIY project or commission a contractor with confidence, knowing why they have chosen the measures they have, how they will be implemented and the benefits they will gain.

www.realrefurbs.org

Straw Build

Strawbuild is a not-for-profit social enterprise, who enjoy designing, teaching and building quality, environmentally sensitive spaces of all kinds and sizes, and in helping you realise your vision. Committed to collaborative working, they can support you from initial concept through to your finished build and offer an accessible design service, planning and building control  permissions.

www.strawbuild.org

Strawhaus

Strawhaus is a small building company on the North Cornish coast founded by Paul Fitzpatrick and supported by a collection of, first and foremost, friends who are highly skilled tradesmen with many years’ experience in both conventional and traditional building techniques. Strawhaus adopts a holistic and ethical approach to building, bringing together the best of both modern and traditional building methods.

www.strawhaus.co.uk

Wholewoods

Creating natural buildings is a skill Wholewoods have passionately honed over many years. They take regular commissions and also facilitate guided building projects for self-builders and community groups. Their roundwood timber framing and woodland skills courses are a mixture of traditional woodsmanship, bushcraft and permaculture.

www.wholewoods.co.uk