Uploaded October 2008 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
AND THE THIRD LITTLE PIG USED HEMP BRICKS!
The Nimbin HEMP Embassy is sponsoring a Build your House from Hemp workshop and everyone is welcome to see for themselves how easy it is, says Klara Marosszeky. On the footpath outside the Embassy next Monday at 2pm the concrete mixer will start turning but it wont be cement in the mixer.
Klara is an Industrial hemp researcher who has been working with UNSW since 2003 to develop a series of mixes for lime-based mortars and hemp masonry for a variety of applications in the construction industry.
Mixing lime-based mortars with hemp is an ancient technology that is currently being used in commercial applications all over the world except in Australia. The French have been building with this technique for the past forty years because hemp has always been grown there. A lot of what has been grown has been supported by American investment who are also doing a lot more at home than we are in Australia.
Now the UK government is leading the way in their enthusiam to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions as quickly as possible. A major way in which they are doing it is by moving forward with the hemp industry. For example theyve just supported the construction of the Adnams Brewery Buildings using 90,000 hemp blocks in a $30 million dollar project in Suffolk England.
There is a chemical reaction between hemp and lime that enables the material to set like cement naturally but with more flexibility and less weight. The material breathes and provides an ideal mould free environment with a modern look. Added to that its a renewable resource.
You can grow enough hemp for a house on one hectare in four months.
There is a waiting list for these houses if only we had sufficient fibre here. NSW produces virtually nothing and has been left behind as this reborn industry takes off elsewhere in Australia and overseas. There is also an industry waiting to take off in NSW to produce hemp blocks and panels for building and landscaping products.
President of the Embassy Michael Balderstone is delighted Klara is building a section of hemp wall inside the Embassy.
It will be enlightening for most of the estimated 100,000 visitors per year who walk through our doors. She will also be at this years MardiGrass on May 3 & 4 where we plan to have a hands on HEMP EXPO where people can mould their own creations from industrial hemp as well as see hemp paper being made and handle hemp blocks. It looks like being an exciting gathering of people working with hemp in its various commercial forms.
AND THE THIRD LITTLE PIG USED HEMP BRICKS!
The Nimbin HEMP Embassy is sponsoring a Build your House from Hemp workshop and everyone is welcome to see for themselves how easy it is, says Klara Marosszeky. On the footpath outside the Embassy next Monday at 2pm the concrete mixer will start turning but it wont be cement in the mixer.
Klara is an Industrial hemp researcher who has been working with UNSW since 2003 to develop a series of mixes for lime-based mortars and hemp masonry for a variety of applications in the construction industry.
Mixing lime-based mortars with hemp is an ancient technology that is currently being used in commercial applications all over the world except in Australia. The French have been building with this technique for the past forty years because hemp has always been grown there. A lot of what has been grown has been supported by American investment who are also doing a lot more at home than we are in Australia.
Now the UK government is leading the way in their enthusiam to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions as quickly as possible. A major way in which they are doing it is by moving forward with the hemp industry. For example theyve just supported the construction of the Adnams Brewery Buildings using 90,000 hemp blocks in a $30 million dollar project in Suffolk England.
There is a chemical reaction between hemp and lime that enables the material to set like cement naturally but with more flexibility and less weight. The material breathes and provides an ideal mould free environment with a modern look. Added to that its a renewable resource.
You can grow enough hemp for a house on one hectare in four months.
There is a waiting list for these houses if only we had sufficient fibre here. NSW produces virtually nothing and has been left behind as this reborn industry takes off elsewhere in Australia and overseas. There is also an industry waiting to take off in NSW to produce hemp blocks and panels for building and landscaping products.
President of the Embassy Michael Balderstone is delighted Klara is building a section of hemp wall inside the Embassy.
It will be enlightening for most of the estimated 100,000 visitors per year who walk through our doors. She will also be at this years MardiGrass on May 3 & 4 where we plan to have a hands on HEMP EXPO where people can mould their own creations from industrial hemp as well as see hemp paper being made and handle hemp blocks. It looks like being an exciting gathering of people working with hemp in its various commercial forms.
