Low Carbon Straw House Passes Fire Safety Test
BaleHaus@Bath — built of pre-fabricated straw-bale and hemp panels — has fire resistance as good as houses built of conventional building materials according to new research.
Researchers at the University of Bath tested a pre-fabricated panel, as used in the construction of Balehaus@Bath, for fire safety by exposing it to temperatures over 1000°C. To reach the required standard the panel had to withstand the heat for more than 30 minutes. Over two hours later — four times as long as required — the panel had still not failed.
BaleHaus@Bath is part of a major new research project into how these renewable building materials can be used for homes of the future.
The research work on BaleHaus has been funded by Carbon Connections and the Technology Strategy Board. Researchers Dr Katharine Beadle and Christopher Gross, from the University’s BRE Centre in Innovative Construction Materials, will be monitoring the house for a year for its insulating properties, humidity levels, air tightness and sound insulation qualities to assess the performance of straw and hemp as building materials.
The ModCell BaleHaus system consists of prefabricated panels made of a structural timber frame infilled with straw bales or hemp and rendered with a breathable lime-based system. It is the creation of White Design in Bristol and Integral Structural Design in Bath, and was used last year by Kevin McCloud to build an eco-friendly house in six days for the Grand Designs Live exhibition.
ModCell is carbon negative in manufacture. Due to the high insulating properties of the panels, the BaleHaus minimises additional heating requirements reducing heating bills in housing by up to 85 per cent, and CO2 emissions by 60 per cent.
