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JULY 2014 PRO INSTALLER
PRO PRODUCTS
www.proinstaller.co.uk
Low-Carbon Building Pioneer
Wins National Green Award
Hemcrete Projects has won the 2014
Ashden Sustainable Buildings Award,
supported by the Garfield Weston
Foundation. The Ashden Awards
are the UK’s leading green energy
awards, and were announced on
22May at the official Ashden Awards
Ceremony at the Royal Geographical
Society.
Oxfordshire-based Hemcrete Projects is
bringing the dream of zero-carbon buildings
closer to reality with its speedily installed,
sustainable building panels made with
hempcrete. These feature fantastic thermal
properties and the ability to stabilise humidity. Hemp has been used in sustainable
building construction for many years, primarily mixed with lime to create hempcrete,
but until now it has been cast on-site – a
messy and time-consuming business.
Hemcrete Projects’ ‘Hembuild’ panels are
made-to-measure off site, then arrive at
building sites ready to be slotted together
like a jigsaw puzzle to form the building’s walls. Aside from making the use of
hempcrete economically viable for builders,
building users can revel in their superior
eco-credentials, a comfortable environment
– and lower bills.
Ashden judges commented:
“This is a huge leap forward on the journey towards zero-carbon buildings. By making it cost-effective and commercially viable
to use hempcrete, the possibilities for expanding the use of this superior sustainable
Kevin McCloud is an advocate of
Hemcrete panels.
building material across the commercial and
domestic building sector are boundless.”
Ian MacCarthy, Business Account Manager
at Hemcrete Projects said:
“We are absolutely delighted to have won
such a prestigious and recognised accolade,
particularly as the Ashden Awards champion the work of exciting low-carbon enterprises. The award serves to acknowledge
how effective systems such as Hemclad and
Hembuild will be in relation to the future of
sustainable and mainstream construction in
this country.”
Runner-up in this category is Demand Logic, which has invented a simple device to
help building managers analyse data from
their building management systems.
The Ashden Awards were set up in 2001
to champion trailblazing sustainable energy
enterprises and programmes that improve
people’s lives and tackle climate change.
Since then there have been more than 150
winners across the UK and the rest of the
globe.
www.ashden.org
TRANSIT TOP OF
THIEVES HIT LIST
According to ACPO
Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service, the Ford
Transit van is top of the
UK’s thief hit list. The
workman’s favourite
van is the most popular
vehicle to be stolen,
and with a leading UK
insurance company estimating the average contents of a commercial
van being worth £1382,
it is easy to see why!
Further, for some trades, a
van is not ju 7BG&