Strawbale building pioneers amazonails will be demonstrating some of the key techniques used in strawbale construction in February, at Ecobuild (Earl's Court, London, 26-28 February). Ecobuild is the UK 's only event dedicated to sustainable design and construction.
The basics of strawbale construction, advanced techniques developed by amazonails like ‘compressive frame’, lime and clay plastering, and low impact foundations, will be covered in half-hour demonstrations on each of the three days at 10.30 and 13.30 at Stand E667 in Earls Court Arena 1. There will be a third demonstration at 16.00 on the first day – 26 February. Strawbale buildings pioneer, amazonails director Barbara Jones, will be on hand to answer questions as well as demonstrating.
Over the past year Barbara Jones has been design consultant and supervised construction of a number of amazonails strawbale buildings, including the largest in the UK, and thought to be the largest in Europe – offices and auction room for fine art auctioneers G E Sworder and Sons of Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex. This 1100 square metre, £1.2 million building is now being fitted out and the first auction is due to be held in May this year. The building incorporates a unique technique developed by amazonails, called ‘compressive frame’. The roof is supported on a timber frame while the strawbale walls are constructed, but it is then lowered onto the strawbales, which become the loadbearing structure. In this way the roof protects the strawbale walls from the weather while they are being built and plastered.
The most recent building completed by amazonails is an education and training facility for the Hackney City Farm, completed in December.
Key sustainable building techniques demonstrations by amazonails at Ecobuild
