Two years ago, Wellspring and PHG introduced IStructE members to hempcrete: what it is, how it performs, and why we chose to build with it. This talk picks up the story since then, tracing the completion of Pearson Way, Neath — delivered through a perfect storm of Ukraine-war inflation and pent-up post-Covid construction demand that tested every assumption in our original business case. We'll share what we've learned refining hempcrete application on site, from drying times and detailing to managing trades unfamiliar with a "non-standard" material, and how those lessons are shaping our next developments.
But the real focus of this talk is what's happened since — the day-to-day reality of being a small, sustainability-focused housebuilder working in South Wales. We'll talk candidly about the trials of bringing forward new schemes through a planning system that can feel slow, inconsistent and resistant to change, where hard-won sustainability credentials like hempcrete rarely even enter the conversation. It's a talk about resilience as much as innovation: what it takes for an SME developer to keep building better homes when the wider system — financial, regulatory and cultural — isn't always built to help you.
Talk is open to non-engineers.