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RIBA approve straw bale courses |
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30 Jan 2009, 12:59 PM
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The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is keeping pace with developments in green building, and has approved a range of sustainable building courses developed by amazonails, the pioneering strawbale building organisation based in Todmorden, West Yorkshire.
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This approval makes the business a member of the RIBA CPD Providers Network. The courses are delivered by amazonails both at its training centre in Todmorden and other locations in the UK. Training takes place on real builds around the UK and overseas, and at the premises of construction professionals such as architects, building surveyors, local authorities, housing associations and building contractors. Courses will also be available as evening classes in the future.
Barbara Jones, founding director of amazonails, said: “Approval of our courses by RIBA is a giant step forward in moving building with natural materials further into mainstream construction. It should not be forgotten that most of the enduring historical buildings still standing today were built entirely from natural materials – stone, lime, clay, timber and even natural insulating materials like sheep’s wool".
"In the present drive to build carbon zero homes with low energy input requirements, strawbale is unassailable, providing unrivalled insulation values compared with any modern material at similar cost”.
Granting recognition to the amazonails courses, the RIBA assessor said: “This proposal from amazonails’ knowledgeable, experienced and committed team to become a member of RIBASkill is both timely and significant. Architects will increasingly need to develop their skills and scope of knowledge of sustainable/natural building materials and techniques to meet the demands of climate change and the post peak oil era. The amazonails current and future courses on a range of complementary ‘natural building’ topics should be capable of helping to meet this knowledge/skills need”.
There are 18 courses in the RIBA-approved amazonails programme. The course year consists of a rolling programme which includes the straw bale and associated building techniques that are within amazonails’ standard designs.
These include cement free foundations, straw bale wall building and associated timber, sustainable roofing, and lime and clay plastering. There are different options depending on the participant’s level of previous experience, so they can have a purely practical course, a theoretical introduction, or do a week long course to learn about building with bales from the base plate to the roof.
There is also a planning and preparation course for self-builders, the topics ranging from an introduction to the different regulatory bodies involved in house building, through an overview of the code for sustainable homes to an insight in designing your own home.
There are other courses in preparation and some, aimed at self-builders, include topics such as building an earth oven, cob-building, and green wood working. Full information on courses, with prices, locations, dates and times, is continuously updated and available on amazonails website.
Credits:: Straw bale interior - thick walls and rounded corners are characteristic.
Photo courtesy New Society Publishers / Laura Taylor
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| Positive review of this story |
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10 Nov 2009, 4:05 PM |
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Wonderfull,where do I sign up for it? Sounds too good to be true.Will our new
masters in Brussels allow it after Dec 1st?
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