Eco-houses to be grown by farmers

Delegates at Ecobuild, a green construction trade show, heard this week that environmentally damaging building materials could be replaced and improved upon by using renewable materials home-grown by Britain’s farmers.

Stephen Ryman, of Defra’s renewable fuels and materials programme, and Dr. John Williams, technology transfer manager at the National Non Food Crops Centre (NNFCC) said that natural resources such as petro-chemicals and farm grown products offer a sustainable alternative to building materials, and offer environmental benefits once they are used in the construction process.

The crop-based products that were discussed at the conference included the already widely adopted hemp lime, and the less well known beer-based paint.

These products used to be expensive, but government funding and a refinement of the production process has made home-grown building materials financially viable.

The main obstacle now is converting architects and developers into using the new materials, especially those with large differences to conventional materials.

Dr. Williams said in a speech at the conference: “The construction industry is fairly conservative and needs to be presented with something that it’s happy with.

“Some of the things that are very, very interesting won’t enter the mainstream at this stage because they don’t look right.”

Certain farm produced building materials - such as wooden insulation, biomass fuels, and sustainably made chip-board - are merely centuries old ideas given a slight twist and new life.

“Some of these things have had a little bit of a resurrection, but it’s not quite the same as it was,” said Dr Williams.

“Increasingly they are made of 100% renewable material rather than the old mix and match approach.”