Theory Courses

This seminar is your project management playbook. Learn the techniques needed to keep your build on track, on budget, and up to standard. We turn the overwhelming process of starting a build into manageable steps.

You Will Cover These Essentials:

• Financial Strategy: How to secure Green Mortgages and Insurance for natural builds.
• Land & Planning: Finding suitable land and navigating the complex legal approvals for Planning and Building Control.
• Cost & Resource Management: Managing budgets, resources, and all stages of your build project.
• New Housing Models: The increasing importance of Community Land Trusts and Co-housing.
• Case Studies: Real-world straw bale builds with a variety of approaches: Contractor led, self-built, hybrid and integrating practical courses.

Save critical time and money by learning how to design with the bale in mind. This essential preparation ensures your plans are buildable, efficient, and beautiful, whether you are a self-builder or a professional designer.

On This Course You Will Learn:

• Bale Basics: A brief history and how to identify high-quality, optimal building bales.
• Modular Design: Designing with the bale’s dimensions to minimise waste and labour.
• Structural Planning: Locating posts and frame elements correctly in infill buildings.
• Modern Methods: Understanding straw bale panels for prefabricated and modular buildings.

Site-Specific Customisation: Techniques for shaping and ‘dressing’ bales on site.

Ready to start, but still unsure about those make-or-break details? This deep-dive workshop covers the technical specifics you didn’t know to ask about. Submit your specific questions to Barbara beforehand for live answers during the sessions.

The Course Will Cover:

• Advanced Techniques: Load-bearing vs. infill compression, and how to execute the challenging “roof first” method.
• Foundations That Save You Money: Natural foundation systems and the key difference between plinths and foundations.
• Weatherproofing & Durability: The critical role of drip edges and robust weather protection.
• Airtightness: Achieving superior airtight doors and windows without expensive tapes.
• Internal Fittings: Practical solutions for attaching wall cupboards, sockets, and heavy fixtures to straw walls.

Worried about the climate emergency and your home’s air quality? Natural plasters (lime and clay) are central to a healthy, low-carbon home. This course connects you to historical, sustainable practices and their modern application.

You Will Gain an Understanding of:

• Decarbonisation: Playing your part in reducing housing stock carbon emissions with natural materials.
• Healthy Air: Achieving superior indoor air quality and how lime and clay naturally regulate humidity – say goodbye to mould and condensation.
• Why Lime Works: The natural cycle of lime, its history, and why it outperforms cement.
• Practical Application: Realistic cost expectations and how to create clay plasters from earth.