STRAW
IN THE RAW - Newsletter!
ISSUE #6 - Jan 2006
2005 - The Year in Review
Wow,
what a year 2005 was for us! And it wouldn’t have been the same
without all the people we’ve talked to, worked with and built straw
bale homes with!
We thought it might be interesting to have a look back at the hectically
busy and immensely satisfying year that 2005 was - and to share some of
the highlights. Enjoy!
In this Issue:
2005
THE YEAR SUMMARISED in STATS !
January
MOBILE STRAW BALE STUDIO COMPLETED
February
5000 BALES OF STRAW ORDERED
March
1st STRAW BALE CONSENT in WAIKATO DISTRICT –
WITHIN 10 DAYS
April
HOMESHOW #2 – TAURANGA.
May
2 x CONSENTS - LOADBEARING & INFILL – IN ONE MONTH.
June
CERTIFIED BUILDERS of QUALITY STRAW HOMES
July
NEW FACES – EVERYWHERE !
August
FRANCES ARRIVES, and RUATUNA HOSTS AN OPEN DAY
September
ACTION – ALL AROUND THE NORTH ISLAND
October
MORE HOME-SHOWS & EVEN MORE CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS
November
NAKED STRAW BALE HOME & NATIONAL PRESS COVERAGE
December
6km of CEILING SARKING & A BUSY YEAR ENDING
Please also feel free to view the 5 previous
issues of the newsletter (if maybe you've missed them :-)
If you are viewing
this newsletter for the first time, you may want to Subscribe
to this Newsletter, so as to receive future issues :-)
2005 - THE YEAR SUMMARISED in STATS!
We’re pretty proud of what we’ve accomplished this year:
- 7 successful straw bale building consents achieved all around the North
Island.
- 8 Straw bale projects currently under construction (ranging in value
from $100k - $1 million)
- Over 500 new enquiries from people genuinely interested in Straw Bale
construction
- Attended over 7 Home Shows, and probably spoke individually to well
over 40 000 people about the virtues and quality of straw bale construction.
- Over 1500 people subscribed
to our Straw in the Raw Newsletter
- Over 20 new straw bale design projects commissioned all around the country.
- Grown to now having 15 people involved in the group (Sustainable Structures
and Straw Built Homes).
Let's now have a look at the year in a little more detail (below):
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January – MOBILE STRAW BALE STUDIO COMPLETED
We spent the first month of the year working on a pretty comprehensive
set of working drawings and specifications for John and Barb’s Home
in Hamilton (over 126 pages!)
We also conceptualized the design of Ruatuna – our Straw Bale Show
Home and Office.
Greg and Fiona’s novel mobile straw bale studio was also completed
in January – and it even received a mention in the internationally
recognized The Last
Straw Journal! (We can also highly recommend a visit to Fiona's
website, which showcases her great NZ-inspired artwork ... there are
also loads of more pics on the studio's
construction process :-)
Ruatuna concept plan
Studio on the Move
Easy does it !
The Last Straw
Article
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February – 5000 BALES OF STRAW ORDERED
In February, we attended our first of 7 Home-shows/ Exhibitions for 2005
- the excellent Eco Show up in Auckland.
We then got busy providing site access up to Ruatuna with a 250 concrete
driveway - not a quick task :-)
We also ordered over 5000 bales of straw, and organized their storage
in preparation for what we knew was going to be a busy straw bale building
year!
Concrete driveway up to Ruatuna. We used a spray-on
concrete stain to colourise the concrete after it had
been poured.
Straw bales getting loaded from storage silo.
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March – 1st STRAW BALE CONSENT in WAIKATO
DISTRICT – WITHIN 10 DAYS
As mentioned above, we received our first consent for the year for John
and Barb’s Home – all within 10 days of the plans being submitted
(This must be a record!)
We also got busy on a little design project up in the Coromandel, and
completed and submitted plans for building consent for Ruatuna (our Show
Home).
3D visualisation of John & Barb's home - Hamilton.
3D visualisation of John & Holly's home - Coromandel.
3D visualisation of Ruatuna - Eastern Bay.
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April – HOMESHOW #2 – TAURANGA.
In April we attended our 2nd Home-show of the year (up in Tauranga).
We also deposited
plans for a small project in Te Awamutu (with the Waipa District Council),
and remember the local building inspector promising to “ find something
wrong with the plans!”, only to revert with a single question about
the paint specification 12 days later.
Needless to say, consent was issued without hassle in early May :-)
Tauranga Homeshow Stand.
Te Awamutu Project.
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May – 2 x CONSENTS - LOADBEARING & INFILL
– IN ONE MONTH.
Straw Built
Homes got busy with construction of John and Barb’s project
in the Waikato – with the excellent Dave Murray heading up the project
– capably assisted by his hard-working apprentice – Sam.
We also received building consent for our Ruatuna Show Home, as well as
the Te Awamutu project. Ruatuna is in our mind the first load-bearing
straw bale building in the North Island to receive consent under the new
Building Act of 2005 (no mean feet!)
Straw Built Homes also ordered a fair amount of equipment and plant to
make future jobs easier and more efficient. This included our fantastically
fast plaster pump, that can plaster a 3 bedroom house exterior within
a day; and our HUGE shelter canopy, which ended up saving us over 15 working
days in lost work on the Ruatuna project alone. (i.e. negating rain etc)
Blockwork going in on John & Barb's home.
Everything ready for concrete pour of floor.
M-tec plaster pump.
Shelter canopy getting erected at Ruatuna.
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June – CERTIFIED BUILDERS of QUALITY STRAW
HOMES
Straw Built
Homes (SBH) received an industry stamp of approval by being appraised
a member of Certified
Builders.
Sustainable Structure attended a busy and productive Fieldays in mid June,
and then SBH got busy onsite with construction of Ruatuna.
We were then commissioned to do a concept for a fantastic project up in
the Waikato that would prove to be over 1000sqm in size (all straw bale!)
And, our plaster pump arrived safely after its long trip from Germany!
Fieldays Stand ... those clouds look ominous :-)
Slab getting poured at Ruatuna.
Initial visualisation on new Waikato project.
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July – NEW FACES – EVERYWHERE!
July was busy! Construction got into full swing on Ruatuna, we erected
our huge canopy, and got busy raising the straw bale walls. This bought
together for the first time, what would become the core of the Straw Built
Homes Construction Team – Grant Aumua (Straw Bale Builder extraordinaire),
Phil Chatfield (Plastering Maestro), Hori Te Puni (Our local Eastern Bay
of Plenty apprentice).
Bryce Stevens, also joined our Team, as our brilliantly proficient, eloquent
and friendly Project Enquiries Guru. He has made a fantastic impact on
the business by spreading the Straw Bale word, and answering literally
thousands and thousands of questions about Straw Bale construction!
And topping off all the new faces (and perhaps the prettiest :-), there
was Melanie Foot, our recently graduated interior designer, who is working
on crafting the Ruatuna interior space and style.
Straw arriving at Ruatuna.
Trimming the walls - messy dirty work!
Window/ Door 'bucks' in place.
Bryce ...............and Mel.
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August – FRANCES ARRIVES, and RUATUNA HOSTS
AN OPEN DAY
August followed hot on the heels of July as a busy month. Good thing –
Frances Wharry joined our team to handle administration matters, and keep
everything running smoothly. 4 months on – we can’t imagine
life without her!
On the building front - the Polypanel roof was fitted on Ruatuna (this
involved manhandling 17meter long panels up the 250m long driveway –
with loads of kiwi ingenuity!), plaster was pumped onto the walls at Ruatuna,
and steel framework was erected on John and Barb’s (an impressive
sight).
Darren Tuffnell also joined the construction team, and kept himself really
busy on Ruatuna, and even got his photo taken for a local newspaper article
about Ruatuna!
We then hosted an Open Day at Ruatuna allowing both the local Eastern
Bay community, and over 40 interested attendees from all over the country,
to come and learn some more about straw bale construction.
Frances Wharry.
17m long polypanels getting manouvered!
Majority of Polypanels in place.
Plastering beginning on exterior.
Steelwork in place at John and Barb's.
Local Newspaper article about Ruatuna.
Open Day at Ruatuna.
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September – ACTION – ALL AROUND THE
NORTH ISLAND
Busy … again! The month began with another consent for a project
up in the Coromandel – again with only a single question from the
local council!
Ruatuna was then visited by 2 of our clients - Pam and Roy - in what we
hope was the first of many visits by interested Straw Bale entusiasts
from all over the country.
And then we decided to attend another 2 Home-shows in Auckland and Napier
:-)
Building progressed all around the country: straw being placed on project’s
near Rotorua & Te Puke, framing going in on the organically shaped
Waikato roof, and construction swinging along on a Hawke’s Bay project
too.
Coromandel consent.
Pam and Roy visiting Ruatuna.
Auckland Homeshow Stand.
Rotorua Project.
Te Puke project.
John and Barb's - roof framing.
John and Barb's - from waaaay up high!
Hawke's Bay project.
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October – MORE HOME-SHOWS & EVEN MORE
CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS
In October, we attended our last 2 home-shows for the year (in Rotorua
and Hamilton)
Construction also began on projects in : Te Awamutu - a small straw bale
guest cottage (which will have a straw ceiling), as well as in Gisborne
- an organically curved home with simple clerestorey roof, for a local
midwife.
And plastering was completed on a small straw bale alteration project
near Rotorua.
Waikato/ Hamilton Homeshow.
Te Awamutu project gets underaway.
Gisborne project- roof on!
Plastering underway on Rotorua project.
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November – NAKED STRAW BALE HOMES &
NATIONAL PRESS COVERAGE
With the year nearing an end, things showed no sign of abating. We hosted
a fantastic and informative Pre-plaster Open Day at our project in Te
Puke – cheekily titled ‘A Naked Straw Bale House’. We
had over 50 people attend from all over the country!
It was also a good month for press coverage – we had mentions in:
the local Te Puke Newspaper, an informative article in OrganicNZ, as well
as an interview on National Radio.
All this, as well as having the time to finalise 6 new concept commissions
during the month too!
And to top it off - roofing on John and Barb's project in Hamilton was completed. Compliments must go to the excellent John Greenhead (from Rotorua) who successfully undertook and completed, with a brilliant standard of workmanship, the pretty 'challenging' roofing contract!
Naked Straw Bale Home in Te Puke.
Organic NZ magazine article.
John and Barb's - Enjoying the Roof shout!
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December – 6km of CEILING SARKING &
A BUSY YEAR ENDING
Phew! A time to reflect on the year, and tidy things up before closing
up shop on the 22nd of December.
We did have time during the month order the 6km of Poplar sarking needed
for John and Barb’s project in the Waikato, finish plastering a
couple of projects around the country, and also to ready Ruatuna for completion
through painting and finishing touches.
Te Puke Project - plaster complete. (Metal building
on right is a storage 'shed/ garage' that joins in with
main house)
Ruatuna - painted and almost ready for visiting.
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We hope you had a FANTASTIC Holiday Season enjoying - Good Food, Good
Friends, and Bucket-loads of Goodwill.
We look forward to getting even more Straw Bale Homes built in 2006.They’re
a privilege we feel everyone should have the chance to enjoy!
Best
Regards
Evan
Crawford
And the Sustainable Structures Team
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