There are many signs that straw bale construction has changed from single-family home self-building to a sustainable and affordable alternative for apartment buildings, public buildings, social housing but also as a solution for retrofit thermal insulation.
The ESBG 2023 in Brenderup, Denmark, puts a special focus on these future solutions and presents particularly interesting projects to emulate.
Especially in France, Germany, the Netherlands, UK, Switzerland and Austria, straw bale construction is currently undergoing this transformation to the future.
Save the date: AUG 31-SEP 3 in Brenderup, Denmark
ESBA and UP STRAW achievements
What we have achieved (with support of UP STRAW and our members): Straw Bale House Database (more than 1.500 straw balehouses in Europe) and a categorized list of the houses (per country, technique, project) – Research Database (more than 400 straw bale studies, books, PDFs, media…) – BIM Models (12 straw building models in Archicad, Sketchup, Revit,…) – European-wide Online ESBG 2021: European Straw Building Gathering (with contributions from all ESBA members and a new ESBA YouTube Channel), STEP Trainings in Austria and Spain (Straw Bale Training for European Professionals), a cooperation with ACTeco – Online Learning platform, a cooperation with UP STRAW project (all results are published and disseminated on ESBA website), just to name a few of our activities…
News from ESBA Members 2022
ArTUR – Sustainable Architecture (Slovakia)
ArTUR organized for the project „Living smart with climate change“ 11 webinars, 4 online courses and 8 workshops to demonstrate the concept of low carbon building materials and appropriate low and high tech, showing adaptation and mitigation of climate change measures on a “tiny house”.
The Day of Open Straw Houses was organised with presentations on YouTube.
ASBN – Austrian Straw Bale Network (Austria)
The focus of asbn is on professional training to become a certified straw bale builder within the framework of STEP training. The courses took place both online (ZOOM) and on straw building sites. For this purpose, 7 straw bale houses were built by StrohNatur and asbn in 2022 for the various topics of the course (wrapping, load-bearing, infill, prefab, finishes – clay and lime).
BiWeNa -Bildungswerkstatt für nachhaltige Entwicklung (DE)
Together with our colleagues from the Ziel 13 project of NZNB, we presented BiWeNa and our seminars and further training courses – including the Fachkraft Strohballenbau – at this year’s trade fair for earthen construction parallel to denkmal 2022 in Leipzig.
BiWeNa offers again a series of interesting seminars and further training in the fields of straw and earth building for 2023.
EME – Eestimaaehitus (Estonia)
EME organized a clay plaster workshop for professionals, filled with lectures, presentations, practical activities, tours and discussions.
If you want to learn how to build an energy-efficient building, to have an environmentally friendly heating device, or to finish rooms with natural building materials, EME offers a wide range of trainings for different target groups.
FASBA – Fachverband Strohballenbau Deutschland e.V. (Germany)
One of the focal points of the FASBA is research and development in building with straw. One of the recent projects is LaStrohBau – load-bearing straw bale construction for agricultural structures and residential buildings – development of static-constructive and structural-physical design principles.
FASBA also offers a lot of events and seminars in 2023.
RCP – Red de Construccion con Paja (Spain)
The Complete Certified STEP course was offered in 2022. Units 1 and 8 were offered completely online, and Units 2-7 were offered partially online and partially in practical workshops. Also included in the full certified course are 15 days of guided practical work on building sites and the final exam. RCP offers STEP in Spanish language again in 2023, see https://step-rcp.es/
RFCP – Réseau Français de la Construction en Paille (France)
Every year RFCP organizes a national congress for straw construction. This event aims to bring together building owners, design professionals, implementation professionals, technical controllers and insurers, in order to establish a solid, referenced and up-to-date knowledge base. By allowing exchanges between builders and project owners, this event encourages synergy between the players with the aim of developing reasoned, responsible and sustainable urban planning.
SBUK – Strawbale Building UK (United Kingdom)
SBUK is very excited to announce that the ‘Technical Guide’ for Straw Construction, is now out! The Technical Guide is a vital component within the EU-INTERREG funded project, ‘UPSTRAW’, the aim of which is to promote the benefits and good practice of constructing with straw. It is essential for self-builders, contractors, planners, structural engineers, finance/insurance personnel and anyone interested in building with straw! The Technical Guide is FREE and available to download here.
More news from UK here.
SBN – Strobouw Nederland (NL) & Vlanderen (BE)
Following the success and the motivating contact that we made during this ESBG 2021, further meetings between NL and BE were scheduled. During the annual meeting of SBN, 3 Belgium members of SBN joined the board of our association. And during the last meeting of SBN it was decided the a new BE-NL-association will be started and the existing organisation (SBN) will only exist to support the transition and do the final work for the Interreg UP STRAW project.
On November 17th a succesfull site visit was organised at the east area of “Vlaanderen”. This was the first acquaintance with the new BE-NL association “Vakgroep Strobouw”. Four inspiring buildings, insulated with straw, were visited.
News from ESBA Associated Members 2022
Claytec (Germany, AT, EU)
Team RoofKIT wins the “Solar Decathlon 21/22” with CLAYTEC clay building materials. More news from
Ecococon (Slovakia, EU)
Sustainable living examples: 5 tips for making your home greener. More news from
Cluster Eco Construction (Belgium)
The Cluster éco-construction brings together all the players and experts in the building sector: architect, entrepreneur, design office, traders, etc.
See Maison Virtuelle or more News (in French) from
Lorenzsysteme/DD-walls (Germany)
Multi-generation house in Kassel with LORENZ wall modules brings back “straw as a building material”. More news from
Dansk Center for Halmbyggeri (Denmark)
Together we started building a real tinyhouse out of straw and wood fibre insulation… See more on FB from
Paille-Tech scrl (Belgium)
Healthy, natural and efficient construction: wood-frame prefabrication, straw insulation, plastering. Projects and News from
Other Straw Bale News
4-storey residential project with 38 residential units built with wood, straw & clay in Lüneburg, DE: Querbeet by Delta Gruen. See the video on YouTube.