Lime plaster Andrew Gair Heating MLM Communications by

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G.E.Sworder Sons14, Cambridge Road,Stansted
Mountfitchet,EssexCM24 8BZ

• Robert Ward-Booth FRICS
• 
  of

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Chartered Surveyors

• Planning Design
• Building Surveys Home Buyers
  Reports

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Fine Art Auctioneers

880
490
700
380
420
Estimate 1,000

• 380

450
680
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The Brief

• Aim
• To create an environmentally sustainable
  building to house a sustainable business.
• Objectives
• Construction to be as carbon neutral and
  environmentally friendly as possible,
• Once built, maintenance of the saleroom should
  require a low energy input.

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Floor Plan
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Alsa Lodge Saleroom
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The Team
Gary Trimm
Architect
Robert Ward-Booth Team Leader
Mike Robinson
Quantity surveyor
Mike Bowen Town Planner
Edward Parsley
Structural Engineer
Miriam Addy
Environmental Landscape

Plus Highway engineers,
Alan and Mike Beckett Builders
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Specialist Consultants

• Barbara Jones John Izod
• Straw Bale Futures
  Lime plaster
• Andrew Gair
  
• Heating MLM
  Communications
• by
• 
  
• Dialogue

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National Trust straw bale building
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Choice of materials

• Straw bale walls
• Shingle roofing
• Timber frame
• Biofuel boiler
• Harvested water
• Solar water heating
• Self regulating summer temperature
• Low energy lighting
• Self draining car park

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Problems and their resolutions

• Institutional insensitivity- Finance and
  insurance
• Insensitive input from some authorities
• (not including Uttlesford D.C. Parish
  Council !)
• Keeping peripheral input focused on
  sustainability,
• Coping with well-meaning superficial
  environmental issues,
• Balancing economics with sustainability,

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Structural Technicalities

• Straw bale compaction,
• Straw bale moisture content,
• Erect timber frame and overhanging roof,
• Drop roof onto the bales,
• Lime putty render.

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Section through a wall
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Benefits of the structure

• Straw provides nearly 3 times the standard
  insulation requirement,
• Straw walls are breathable which makes a
  comfortable atmosphere in which to work,
• Straw absorbs sound energy thus making a quieter
  working environment and good acoustics for
  musical events,
• The foundations are shallow due to the width of
  the walls.

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But doesnt straw burn ?
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NO! Plastered straw bales are exceptionally
resistant to fire

• A plastered straw bale wall easily passed
• the two-hour laboratory fire test required for
• commercial buildings in parts of America.

Try burning through a telephone directory!!
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Would we do it again????

• No, no, no, .yes

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The ultimate in re-cycling

8 8 0
4 9 0
700
3 8 0
4 5 0
6 8 0
4 2 0
Estimate 1,000

• 380