Straw bale house wins award

In news which could give those looking to self build their way onto the property ladder some new ideas about materials, a home built using straw bale has been given an award.

A house made from this material has won the Grand Designs Best Eco Home and is through to the final of the Home of the year live final, the Green Building Press reports.

The house, called Penwhilwr (Welsh for Watchtower), is reportedly the first two-storey load-bearing straw bale house in Britain and just the second in Europe.

Funded partly by a loan from the Ecology Building Society, it has a number of eco-friendly features such as a wind turbine, rainwater harvesting and solar panels.

The benefit of using straw bale is that it is superior at insulating to conventional material according to straw bale building website Conscious Construction, which states it has nearly three times the minimum insulation properties required under current building regulations.


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