straw house movement
for Craig and his team. The BaleHaus straw turns out to be a fantastic tion design. BaleHaus is an elegant
project has truly whipped up a construction material. ModCell has modern home that delivers a sus-
storm. Who better as an endorse- a u Value of up to 0.13, a fire cer- tainable living solution fit for the
ment to promote this amongst tificate for 2 hours 15 minutes, an challenge of reducing carbon
the wider community than Kevin air-tightness of 0.86 m3/m2/ph at emissions by 80 per cent by 2050
McCloud; the designer responsible 50 Pa (the more than 10 times without compromise.
for bringing unusual design to the better than the Building Regulations
forefront of general publics’ mind. require) and can be used as the How long did it
Not only does Craig have ‘Mr structural system for buildings. take to construct?
Grand Designs’ backing, but the The first pig turns out to have The shell of BaleHaus went up in
successful Modcell concept has been right all along. three days. There is a time-lapse film
utterly quashed the three little on the website which shows just
pigs theory (don’t tell the kids!). Explain some of your how fast the Balehaus system is.
artistic influences when
Architects Choice spoke to Craig creating this building? Are there any drawbacks
White on the subject of satisfying We wanted the building to be to using Modcell and the
straw buildings. modern and true to the materials hemp prefab panels?
it is made of. The ModCell system None. Balehaus meets the de-
What is your (sustainable) is simple and the BaleHaus design manding Passivhaus specification
philosophy for design? is very much a form follows func- for Zero Heat Homes.
The principal behind ModCell was
to develop a means by which we
could bring the benefits of using
renewable building materials into
mainstream construction using
Modern methods of Construction.
ModCell stands for Modular
Cellulose and the system is de-
signed to work within the natural
carbon cycle, exploiting nature’s
ability to capture carbon through
photosynthesis.
What first inspired you to
seek alternative materials?
The construction industry uses vast
amounts of largely non renewable,
carbon intense materials that have
impacts on the environment
throughout the supply chain from
the winning of raw materials to
there processing and transport.
Our question to ourselves was
could we develop a system of con-
struction that worked within the
natural carbon cycle.
What brief/ specification
did you give yourself for
this building project?
To design the highest performing
building we could with the lowest
carbon footprint and at the same
time ensure that it was replicable
and could be adopted at scale.
Why straw bale and hemp?
consultant to the Carbon Trust, Straw is a by-product of the agricul-
advising on energy and environ- tural industry. Three million tones
mental issues in construction, a of which is available each year.
member of BSRIA's expert panel Historically most of it would have
on The Impact of Climate Change been burnt in the field or used as
on the Construction Industry, and animal bedding. Hemp shiv, used
consultant to the Steel Construction in HemCrete, is also a by-product of
Institute on low energy, ventilated growing hemp for its fibres and oils.
steel construction. He is part of the By using the by products of both
Low Carbon Buildings Programme we can bring both into mainstream
and is one of a panel of four as- use by prefabricating them into en-
sessing grant applications for gineered panel systems. Not only
renewable energy funding for the are we using a by-product in an in-
DTi for Streams 2 and 2a. Craig is novative way, but they also perform
also Senior Lecturer and Deputy exceptionally well as a high per-
Award Leader at the School of formance cladding system. ModCell
Architecture and Planning, is carbon negative in manufacture,
University of the West of England, reduces heating bills by up to 85
and Tutor at the London School of per cent and consequently CO2
Economics for their MSc programme emissions by 60 per cent.
in City Design & Social Science.
With all this under his belt and How have these
much more to come from White natural sources faired
Design and Modcell, it is set to be as construction materials?
a very exciting time in architecture Despite the story of the Three Pigs,
Architects Choice 19
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