Art sale room in Essex is sustainably built using a timber frame packed with straw bales

The UK’s first commercial straw bale building has opened in Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex. The fine art sale room was commissioned by Sworders and has been built by Collins & Beckett.

Named the Eco Barn it has been constructed using a timber frame sourced from sustainable, managed forests which is filled with tight-packed straw bales.

The roof of the building, which comprises three sale rooms, a reception area and offices, was built first in order to keep the straw dry during construction, and then lowered so as to compress and hold the bales in place. These were then rendered both internally and externally with lime render to allow the walls to breath.

Rainwater is harvested from the cedar shingle roof and used to flush the lavatories, while a biofuel wood-chip boiler and solar panels provide much of the hot water and the heating for the reception and offices.

The sale room was officially opened by Princess Michael of Kent

Topics