Straw Bale Eco Building Construction Begins
Wolf Proof Straw Building
With Architects always looking at new ways to build projects with an Eco twist, Europe is about to witness the largest construction ever built out of straw bales.
Over the next 3 months, the final touches are being put in place for the 2,800 m2 ‘Ecobuild’ in Bradford where an old school was standing not so long ago in Eccleshill.
The project which has been on the planning table for nearly 3 years, finally got the go ahead a few months ago once they had complete confirmation of the funding which was promised by the EU. The £4.2 million which was needed to complete the project was built up of funds gathered from four European initiatives.
Local planning officials are said to be ecstatic that the project will be starting in the new year, after the initial plans had to be changed many times during the three year build up to Europe’s largest ever environmentally friendly project.
The site will be the first of this size in Europe, which is why nearly 50% of the funding has been raised from the EU – and will set the standards for future developments around the globe. Officials from 7 European states will be visiting the build during it’s construction.
This sustainable building will house many different community projects for the local area in Bradford, including 14 new start-up business units and a community centre.
It’s not something that has been classed as ‘different’ when it comes to building a commercial project from straw bales. One construction business which are based not far from the new Bradford site have built over 100 straw buildings over the last few years, the biggest one being nearly 1100 m2.
An official for the local Newlands Community Association (NCA), Tony Holditch said: “We wanted to really push the boundaries of design and build to create a centre of excellence. In this period of recession and bad news across the country we are investing in something new and different. It’s going to benefit a lot of people.”
Even though the majority of the project will be constructed from compacted straw bales, designers have also used normal house bricks and blocks where load bearing points sited for the first floor and roofing will sit.
Construction is expected to start Jan 2011 and is expected to last for around 7 months.
