This is the house that hemp built ...

BUILDING a home using hemp is a creative way to head in the green direction.

At the Voase family farm near Brandesburton, hemp has played a key part in building work.

Working towards a greener, more eco-friendly way of living, the arable farmers are hemp growers and processors.

With a full crop of hemp and the equipment in place to process it, in 2009 the Voases started on their first hemp project – to convert a barn.

According to the family, there was talk of hemp being good for building, because one of the big drivers is its carbon-negative properties.

Creating a hempcrete mixture, you are on to a winner with this material.

There is more CO2 absorbed by the plant during cultivation, and during construction the walls will continue to absorb CO2.

Now, the family is enjoying an eco-friendly environment in their three-bedroom home.

Mr Voase said: "The hemp regulates its own humidity and in a three-bed house, we only have one log stove in the living room.

"It is cheap to heat and it is extremely light so you get a good insulation."

This first conversion project kept the brickwork in place and has a 200mm layer of the hemp mixture on the outside and a 50mm layer on the inside acting as insulation.

This hempcrete mixture, made from the woody core (shiv) then mixed with a lime binder, creates a biocomposite.

The breathable product is becoming more popular in the building trade but is still unfamiliar to many.

Mr Voase: "It was a long, drawn-out process getting it approved. We had to convince people it was the right way to build.

"The planners didn't know anything about it."

According to Mr Voase, you need about a hectare of hemp to build a house – about 3.5 tonnes of hemp shiv.

The family are set to work on their next project in spring, which will see a home built with a timber frame and hempcrete to insulate.

Mr Voase said: "We can make the house look however we want, because we can choose how to finish it."

Mr Voase, who will be living in the new five-bedroom home with his family, said: "This material ticks a lot of boxes.

"It does make a very nice house to be in.

"I think it will become more popular."

The family is quickly heading into an environmentally friendly way of living.

The new house will have biomass heating, the family has a small wind turbine at the farm to produce some of their electricity and they have also started to make log-burning briquettes out of hemp shiv and fine dusts, which can be used to burn in a stove.

As they continue to grow and process the crop, the family is now hoping to tap into more markets.

Mr Voase said: "There are all sorts of processes that can use the hemp. It is the future."

- Scunthorp