The UK's first new straw homes are to go on sale in Bristol.

A new factory-built straw panel design developed at the University of Bath has received BM Trada's Q mark certification, meaning developers and house buyers can now insure and secure mortgages against homes, schools and offices built using this sustainable construction method.

The seven Bristol townhouses were built by developers Connolly and Callaghan using the 3.2m by 2.9m ModCell straw panels, in which an engineered timber frame encloses the compressed straw bale insulation. Constructed with the load-bearing straw panels within an airtight design the new houses will need significantly less conventional heating.

-- Advertisement --

The Q mark industry certification is the result of our three-year, EUR 1.8m EuroCell research project funded by the Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME) jointly with industry partners Integral Engineering Design and architects White Design.

Professor Pete Walker, Head of Department of Architecture & Civil Engineering at the University of Bath, led the research. He said: "The construction sector must reduce its energy consumption by 50 per cent and its carbon emissions by 80 per cent by 2050, so radical changes are needed to the way we approach house building. As a construction material straw is a low-cost and widely available food co-product that offers real potential for ultra-low carbon housing throughout the UK. Building with straw could be a critical point in our trajectory towards a low-carbon future."

(CD/MH)