Urban and Public Buildings in Straw

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Heating all of the buildings in NWE accounts for about 15% of the GHG emissions. New passive buildings and large scale renovation are needed to reduce these emissions, but the emissions of the construction sector itself represent approximately 12% of the GHG (cement, bricks, glass and petrochemicals – source EEA). The challenge is to improve the insulation of buildings with natural materials which have fixed carbon during their life cycle. Wood is now well known. Straw has impressive insulation characteristics too, but is still to be better known and promoted in order to be used on a large scale. Straw bales are available all over the territory (millions of tonnes in every country). It is typically the widespread cheap sub-product of the agricultural sector, local and biodegradable: a perfect illustration of circular economy. Inspired by the French example where the straw building sector represents now about 500 examples a year, the project aims to up-scale the use of straw in the other NWE-countries by extending its use to urban areas, public procurement and renovation, while helping SMEs to position themselves on the market. The aim is to reach 5% of the market by 2030 and save more than 2 MTCO2 (incl. fixed CO2). The outputs of the projects will be: the use of straw in 5 demonstrator buildings (public and private, renovation and construction), specific training for architects, engineers and builders and a market development strategy for boosting demand and SMEs’ ability to serve this demand. The long term effects will be a major change in the perception of straw as a building material thanks to training programmes and appropriate demonstration and communication. The project will also bring concrete solutions to actual challenges like terms of reference for public procurement, specifications for straw in BIM (Building Information Modelling) or life cycle assessment for straw and guarantee system.

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