Pioneer Barbara Jones plans to make building with straw mainstream thanks to a quick and easy new system

Yet while homes constructed with straw bales have been embraced by some self-builders, they have never become mainstream.

“I’ve tried for years to get major developers to use straw with several near misses but no real success,” says Barbara.

“The house building industry is a real dinosaur and the big developers don’t like change and they don’t want to engage.

“They have their supply chains set up and they won’t entertain swapping them because they can’t be bothered, even though they will have to meet new zero carbon standards soon.”

That could all change thanks to a new way of volume building with straw using prefabricated panels made by EcoCocon.

The firm is based in Lithuania but supplies the UK and, if demand grows, there is a possibility of having an EcoCocon factory in Britain.

“They are a game changer,” says Barbara “Not only are they cheaper than any other SIPS (structural insulated panels) in the UK, there is nothing to match them in terms of being zero carbon and energy efficient.”

They also meet Passivhaus standards and are a lot cheaper to build compared with the conventional materials used to construct the average Passivhaus.

“You can build the walls of a straw panel house for £1,500 per sq metre whereas the average Passivhaus is £2,300 to £3,000 per sq metre,” says Barbara.

The panels, which make up the walls of a home, are created by compacting the straw mechanically to create density and strength and this is encased in a wood frame with plywood top and bottom.

This is topped with a fibreboard layer with a vapour permeable membrane and can be clad in timber or lime rendered.

“We suggest using a clay plaster inside because it has good breathability,” says Barbara, who adds: “It’s a modular system. All you then need is a crane and a small team of carpenters and you can put a three to four bedroom house together in three to four days, with the roof and floors fitted separately.”

The EcoCocon straw SIPS panels are now used in 25 different European countries for mass house building schemes.

“It’s high speed construction, it’s cost effective and these panels aren’t just zero carbon, they are negative carbon as they remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere rather than adding to it,” says Barbara.

At the moment there are 14 EcoCocon panel-built homes in the UK, owned by self-builders .

While the biggest volume builders in the UK have shown no interest, others have. “We are talking to people who want to build 120 EcoCocon panel homes and to people who want to build a hotel from them,” says Barbara.

“It is the future and what they have found in other countries using this system, is that if you build at scale, it doesn’t cost more than other mass produced housing."

Meeting building regulations or getting a warranty for straw builds is now not a problem as the School of Natural Building has produced a guide and an environmental product declaration for it.

So enthused is she, Barbara is now a representative for EcoCocon and spreading the word in Britain is her mission.

Those who have visited straw-built homes, including me, will also attest that, not only do they feel both warm, they feel good and have a calming effect.

“They feel so different to the average house and they have a positive impact on health and wellbeing because they have breathable wals and no toxins,” says Barbara.

“If you also use a clay or lime plaster that regulates humidity so you won’t get mould.”

She practises what she preaches and is building her own straw bale house in Skipsea, which was started before panels were available.

The energy crisis, upcoming regulations on energy efficiency and ongoing fears about the environment, may well give Barbara her “Cometh the hour, cometh the woman” moment.

“It takes developers who can see the opportunity for mass construction using the straw panels to help them become mainstream but I think it will happen.

“It will be like solar panels. When they first came on the market only a few people installed them and that helped drive demand.”

Needless to say, Barbara was one of the first to install solar panels on the roof of her Yorkshire home.

Useful contacts: www.ecococon.eu; www.schoolofnaturalbuilding.co.uk.