Should more British homes be built using straw? SBUK Opinion

Straw-Bale Building UK (SBUK) are delighted to see positive mainstream coverage of straw building (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-68005481) in light of exciting plans to insulate Todmorden Learning Centre and Community Hub with Ecococon prefabricated straw and timber panels. Panel systems like those made by Ecococon and Agile Homes present possibly the best way to get straw construction adopted more widely, and to enable fast construction with an incredibly low-carbon material (evidenced by the UK Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) for straw as insulation material https://www.environdec.com/library/epd3854 and Ecococon’s panel system EPD https://ecococon.eu/assets/downloads/epd_ecococon_2022.pdf).

The article also touched on some myths about straw building, apparently unaware of rigorous research and testing that has been carried out to prove the robustness and safety of straw construction. Much of this is reported in the Straw Construction in the UK - Technical Guide (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gdeihMaF3keMkWZ0UCojNLz_QGEV8G2V/view).

There are straw bale buildings that are well over 100 years old, and still in good condition. Certified fire testing has shown complete straw-insulated walls can resist fire for upwards of 2 hours, well in excess of building regulations requirements. The university of Bath worked with Modcell to test a complete panel building for wind resistance and found it could withstand the force generated by hurricane winds. 100s of straw buildings are successfully and completely insured and mortgaged.

While for many people their first experience of straw may be as a loose fluffy material in a field or a barn, this is a far remove from the reality of straw construction, where straw is really just another building material. It happens to be one with excellent practical properties and environmental credentials, and is available in large quantities (just 5% of wheat straw sold away from its farm of origin could build 39000 3-bed semi-detached houses every year).

There is a knowledge gap in the construction industry relating to straw, which SBUK (working with our members) are seeking to fill with plans to scale up training in straw construction, leading to a recognised qualification. Watch this space…

SBUK are the UK’s association of straw construction practitioners, designers, academics, enthusiasts and trainers.

John Butler - for and on behalf of SBUK Board

Image - Ecococon