[This event is postponed until further notice.]
February | Hemp-Lime Construction | HempToday Center
Informative, hands-on, networking
We’re inviting entrepreneurs, architects, engineers, researchers, managers, business & trade professionals and do-it-yourselfers to join us as we explore hemp-lime building and the hemp construction sector, push forward strategies for creating healthier living spaces and do our part to help reverse the damaging effects CO2 emissions. (schedule)
The Experience
See the FILM:
2021 Mentors
Wolf Jordan | Wolf Jordan & Co. | Belgium
Wolf is one of Europe’s leading experts in eco-construction and the production of high quality natural paints, plasters and renders for the building industry. He is the founder and sole owner of Wolf Jordan & Co., which operates out of Greenbizz, a Brussels-based incubator that backs growth of startups and small firms focused on sustainability. Wolf’s company produces binder formulas for hempcrete construction, and natural oils and waxes for wood and stone. An old-world craftsman with more than 40 years’ experience in natural materials, Wolf is also a lecturer, educator and innovator who has worked on building projects all over the world. Wolf is a permanent lecturer at Deep Green Building.
Jan Bešík | Mabeko | Czech Republic
Jan has 16 years experience in hemp and cannabis. He is founder of Mabeko, a company that sells hemp building materials and hemp bedding, and provides consulting services. His company built or help to build several hempcrete houses in the Czech Republic. Jan lives in half wood and half hempcrete house in the mountains.
Przemysław Brzyski| Budynki z Konopi | Poland
Przemek is a builder and scientist who teaches natural construction at Lublin University in east central Poland. He continues to document hempcrete’s performance in his firm’s construction projects, with an eye toward getting the material certified for Poland’s broader building industry.
Piotr Jastrębski | Fermatech/Podlaskie Konopie | Poland
Piotr and his brother Marcin farm, process and sell hemp derivatives from their vertically integrated hemp operation in northeastern Poland under the Podlaskie Konopie brand, picking up a family tradition that was temporarily lost in the second half of the 20th century. Piotr is also active in Poland’s natural building scene, conducting hempcrete building workshops and frequently appearing at natural building trade shows. His firm built one of the first hempcrete houses in Poland, smack in the middle of fields where Fermatech farms industrial hemp.
Max Germain | Master Framer | Poland/USA
Max is a natural builder, experienced carpenter and plasterer who has been in the construction industry for 20 years. He has been involved in several dozen straw bale buildings in Poland, and was the main carpenter on the hempcrete house in Teodorowo, the first fully insulated hemp house in Poland. With his wife, he also runs the Seva Yoga school in Bialystok.
A unique hemp build
Theory and practice
(Afternoons & Evenings/Days 1, 2 & 3) The hands-on project for this course is the construction of interior walls (remember, it’s February!) to create a guest room in the attic of the Palace at Nakło, an 18th century estate that serves as the home of HempToday Center and a functioning Hemp Bed & Breakfast.
This unique initiative is based on an architectural plan to add five rooms and an apartment in open space that, through nearly 250 years, was never inhabited. Hemp-lime is the perfect construction material for this project based on its light weight, and its advantageous thermal and acoustical properties. It also results in walls that are stronger than those used in traditional construction, and provide natural humidity and thermal control – all in one layer. In essence, these materials breathe.
Limited to 25 participants
Sign up now! €1,499; Includes opening reception, 3 nights lodging, all meals + other extras!
3-day Immersive Course: Whether you want to start your own hemp construction company, set up a business serving a sub-sector or supplier niche, or build your own home, HempToday Institute’s (HTI) 3-day Deep Green Building experience is a unique opportunity to get in-depth knowledge and practical skills quickly. Our international faculty members are leading practitioners, entrepreneurs and business owners with broad knowledge of hemp-lime construction, and who have networks of other leading hemp building professionals around the globe.
Rich content, hands-on experience: Early mornings are spent in two seminar sessions leading directly to hands-on participation in an exclusive, unique, on-site hemp construction project. We wrap things up with a session during which we explore specific matchmaking opportunities among the 25 participants.
Schedule
Day 1, Thursday (morning): Hemp in Construction
- History, theory and applications of hemp-lime materials. You’ll be introduced to all aspects of hemp-lime construction including framing, materials evaluation and selection, mixing techniques, shuttering or slip forming, how to source materials, hemp walls, floors and roofs, interior and exterior plastering and more.
Day 2, Friday (morning): Business & Entrepreneurship
- Overview of markets around the world; Market models; Community Supported Agriculture; Local economic development & local value chains. Sector SWOT analysis.
- Entrepreneurship; Business models & planning; Niche market opportunities; Checking your assumptions; Matching your skills set and networks to hemp building industry.
Day 3, Saturday (morning): Matchmaking & Networks
- Exploration of matchmaking potential among participants: Knowledge and technology transfer; Business partnerships; Supplier relationships; Value chain development. With a special emphasis on further development of shared media assets to advance the industry at large.
Advisers & past mentors
STEVE ALLIN, International Hemp Building Association, pioneered the IHBA, which he serves as director. An author, teacher and consultant on ecological building, he has been building with hemp and promoting hemp’s use in construction all over the world for the last 20 years. He is currently involved in projects to rebuild with hemp in the post-earthquake areas of Haiti and Nepal, while maintaining a busy workshop and speaking schedule. Steve lives in Rusheens, Kenmare, County Kerry, Ireland.
JOHN PATTERSON, Tiny Hemp Houses, Colorado, USA, is a hemp builder and lecturer based in northern Colorado, USA. A carpenter and furniture designer by trade, John also has worked on commercial and residential building projects, has researched sustainable living methods since the 1970s, and is specially trained in residential building envelope and fenestration installation. In 1997 John designed and built his own off-the-grid home complete with its own solar-based electricity plant.