SHD 2021 Expert Session: Building with natural materials

Natural materials can be used to increase your home's thermal efficiency and lower its carbon footprint, without harmful chemicals. As part of our Sustainable House Day Retrofitting Week, this Expert Session will bring you presentations by industry experts on using materials like strawbale, rammed earth and hempcrete. 

In the second half of our webinar, we'll open up a panel discussion and Q&A session with our experts and some of our Sustainable House Day homeowners, who will share their first-hand experience with using natural materials in their builds. You can find links to their house profiles below.

Speakers

Jaye Irving, Founder at Barefoot Sustainable Design

Multi-award winning designer Jaye Irving has been flying the green banner of sustainability for nearly 20 years exploring the relationship between the natural and built environment. As an Architect, Artist, Builder, keen Permaculturist his interest in natural materials has led him on a on a global search for grassroots green design, fortifying his skills in integrated food systems, ecological sewage design and a gambit of natural building practices including bamboo, earth and straw. At the core of these skills taught by simple craftsmen from around the world is the relationship with their environment. Based in Northern Rivers, Jaye’s practice has developed numerous sustainable housing models with a strong focus on reducing the impact of housing on the environment.

Stephen Dobson, Managing Director at Ramtec, Earth Building Association of Australia Committee Member

Ramtec was formed as Australia's first rammed earth building company in Perth, Western Australia, in 1979 to not only promote the art and science of building in rammed earth but to get out there and design, engineer and build it cost-effectively. To bring rammed earth from the status of a "forgotten art", no longer practised in Australia, into the mainstream of the building industry. Ramtec rammed earth is now a modern, structural, load bearing, durable, waterproof, beautiful, artistic, breathing, green, cost-effective, environmentally-sound building material. It is widely used and respected. Ramtec rammed earth has been used to build over 650 structures of one kind or another over a period over approximately 30 years. 

SHD Homeowners

Geoff Cameron - Geoff's Hemp House (NSW)

Evie Verdini Fensom - Earthship Inman Valley (SA)

Shannon Tufui - Long Beach Eco House (NSW)

MC

Steffen Welsch, Owner at Steffen Welsch Architects 

Tickets

• You will receive the link to attend the webinar in your ticket confirmation email.
• This webinar will take place on Zoom. If you need to download Zoom, you can do so here.
• We have a number of free tickets available for those experiencing financial difficulty.
• Sustainable House Day is a national event by Renew, a non-profit organisation. Renew recognises that this event that takes place on the stolen lands of many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. We will be directing 5% of all proceeds generated by these webinars to the Pay the Rent initiative, and 5% to Seed Indigenous Youth Climate Network.