Hemcrete®homes

Tradical® Hemcrete®, unique and highly sustainable, is a blend of hemp shiv and a lime based binder, which together form a bio-composite building material. Tradical® Hemcrete® captures significant amounts of carbon from the atmosphere. Hemp, in common with all similar plants, captures CO2 and releases oxygen during its rapid growth.

Empyer Homes has developed a construction process based on precisely chosen designs and materials that can deliver a finished home considerably quicker than traditional building methods.

The build process begins with the construction of a wooden frame which is bolted onto the substructure and damp course. Recycled plastic cassettes are then constructed around a wooden frame; a process that is quick to assemble and highly efficient in its performance. Tradical® Hemcrete® is then applied inside the cassette construction around the wooden skeleton to create the external walls; this process takes just a couple of days.

The immediate and positive effect of this process is the sequestration of the principal greenhouse gas. Furthermore, this captured carbon is then locked into the fabric of constructed buildings. Finally, when the air-lime based binder sets, even more carbon dioxide absorption occurs. In effect, the material becomes better than carbon neutral. Tradical® Hemcrete® can be used to build highly insulated, air tight buildings. These buildings can run with minimal heating and are warm in the winter and cool in the summer.

The internal structure is installed while the Tradical® Hemcrete® walls are curing and the roof is constructed and tiled. The interior is then plastered, the kitchen and bathroom fitted, lighting and heating added and the final decoration completed.

These efficiencies are achieved not only by the use of Tradical® Hemcrete®, but because of the benefits of the modular Empyer Homes design. All plumbing and wiring conduits are pre-cast into the Tradical® Hemcrete® walls; this allows an extremely simple process to wire and plumb the house. The cabling is simply fed through the installed conduit within the Tradical® Hemcrete® wall; because of this most of the plumbing and heating services are formed using a simple click-in installation process.