CAROLINE HARKER

The three little pigs were wrong when it comes to building construction, or so say a local couple who gave a talk on building with straw recently.

There’s no way a big bad wolf could blow down one of their straw (bale) houses, in fact they claim they would last longer than many regular homes.

Local design and build team Jessica and Ben Eyers (Hiberna Construction and Architecture) are speaking at a Southern Sustainable Building meeting about their work on Tuesday night at Kai Whakapai. The talk will focus on how straw bales can be used to make a durable, affordable, environmentally-friendly, mainstream construction material.

The Eyers philosophy of building is based on creating houses "your children’s children will be proud of".

"The market is flooded with large mediocre homes and we are trying to reverse that trend,” Jessica said. "We think there is more long-term value in quality buildings, built to last, that don’t break the budget because of their size. For a building to last the centuries it needs to be loved, and our buildings will need to be maintained - but unlike a lot of modern materials, earth, lime and timber can be maintained relatively easily and cheaply.” The straw bales themselves are fully enclosed, so they don’t need any maintenance.

Jessica said what they have is "a high performance ultra low carbon insulation technology that is proven to reduce heating costs by 90%.”

Jessica is from England and Ben from Wanganui. They met while rock climbing in Wanaka, and found they had a lot in common. One thing led to another and they designed and built their first house in 2008. Located in Wanaka, it was for Ben’s parents and is an energy-efficient passive solar house.

Since then they have started their own business, had two children and built their own straw bale house, "where we try out all our building ideas”. They have also designed and built houses in Tekapo and Warkworth.

Jessica has previously worked for Sustainable Wanaka (2006-2009) and for QLDC as an eco-design advisor. She has two degrees in architecture. Ben is a licensed builder and natural plasterer. They are currently applying for a research grant to explore the potential for mainstreaming straw bale as a building material.

Southern Sustainable Building is a group of people involved in sustainable building projects in Central Otago. Their meeting will be held upstairs at Kai Whakapai on Tuesday June 28 at 7pm. Anyone interested in attending is welcome.

For more information contact Clair Higginson on 03 448 6115 or 021 102 2182, [email protected], or Jessica Eyers on 022 013 9062 or [email protected].

PHOTO: www.alpineimages.co.nz