A unique energy efficient house made from hemp, designed by Archial Architects, has been unveiled at the BRE Innovation Park which showcases the future of low carbon and sustainable buildings.

The three bedroom Renewable House, which costs £75,000 to build not including ground works or utilities, uses renewable materials to deliver a well designed, yet low cost, affordable home.

The external walls are constructed from a revolutionary sustainable material called Hemcrete, provided by manufacturer Lime Technology, made from hemp plants grown and harvested in the UK and lime based binder.

Hemp is one of the fastest growing biomasses and is often used in paper, textiles, biodegradable plastics, health food and fuel.

It is estimated The Renewable House's carbon footprint will be around 20 tonnes lower than a traditional brick and block house. The hemp absorbs around five tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere during its rapid growth period, which then becomes locked into the fabric of the building, making the thermal Hemp-Line walling solution 'carbon negative'.

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The Renewable House meets level 4 of the Government's Code for Sustainable Homes - a national standard that measures the sustainability of homes against a set of design categories such as energy consumption and building materials. The Government's target was for all homes from 2016 to be built against Code Level 3 standards.

The Renewable House can be used in several configurations; detached, semi-detached and terraced, with little alteration to the basic design. Archial's modular system, which uses a timber frame and prefabricated panels that are assembled on site, reduce the time needed for onsite construction.

Archial Architects was commissioned by The Linford Group to design the energy efficient home as part of The Renewable House project that not only exceeds the Government's Code for Sustainable Homes (CSH), but also offers an ideal solution to today's affordable housing requirement.

The Renewable House is being delivered by the National Non-Food Crops Centre (NNFCC) with funding from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). The house is being project managed by contractor The Linford Group which is managing the design development and construction, working with design partners Archial Architects.

Matthew Richardson, Associate at Archial Group's Bournemouth division, said: "We were delighted to have the opportunity to use our experience in sustainable design to meet the challenge set by The Linford Group.

"The result has delivered a highly green housing concept that exceeds the Government’s home efficiency target and is both affordable and comfortable."

(GK/JM)