[[{“value”:”
Last week, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer committed to building 1.5 million homes over the current parliament, targeting the construction of 300,000 homes annually to align with long-advocated figures to address under-supply.
Following decades of housebuilding pledges not being met, Labour is prioritising making changes to the cumbersome planning process to improve efficiency and force local councils to approve developments in their constituencies.
However, planning reform will only go so far. The UK is still facing a significant post-Brexit skills shortage, alongside rising material costs and a shortage of materials.
A long-suggested solution now gaining momentum is the adoption of hemp-based construction – a sustainable and scalable alternative that addresses many of these challenges directly, not only offering a low-carbon building material but also providing opportunities to alleviate the skills shortage through off-site manufacturing and modular construction processes.
One company pioneering this practice is UK-based construction technology business HEMSPAN®. Its founder and CEO, Matt Belcher, told Business of Cannabis: “Our mission is to develop the bio-based, circular systems to capture and store atmospheric carbon in buildings and deliver climate-positive community living at scale.”
“Industrial hemp is central to what we do, serving as the core ingredient in our products. Our flagship system, called BIOHAUS®, makes use of the whole hemp stem.”
HEMSPAN® and the BIOHAUS® concept
Founded in 2020, HEMSPAN® was born out of Belcher’s ambition to make the concept of ‘growing homes’ a reality.
“The idea of creating a house entirely from hemp – from the exterior skin to the interior walls – was something I became deeply passionate about,” he explained.
Following a number of fund-raisers and extensive R&D to flesh out its predominantly hemp construction methods, the company is now in the process of building its first homes.
Its proprietary system, BIOHAUS®, is an integrated approach where the woody core of hemp stems is transformed into boards, and the outer fibre is used for insulation.
These materials are assembled into prefabricated panels, which are then shipped directly to construction sites. Each home requires approximately five hectares of hemp, and the process maximises the plant’s potential through an efficient circular system.
“There are plenty of people working with hempcrete and hemp insulation, but what sets us apart is that our system uses the plant in the right way to enable vertical integration. We’re planning a production facility for BIOHAUS®, where we’ll process hemp straw bales and timber into components including insulation and particle board materials.”
The BIOHAUS® system is accredited through BOPAS (Build Offsite Property Assurance Scheme), ensuring eligibility for mortgages, warranties and insurance.
The homes are designed to be climate-positive, with zero energy costs for residents and comparable build costs to traditional higher-performing homes. They are constructed twice as fast and appeal to a premium market due to their exceptional fire-rating performance and Passive House-level efficiency.
HEMSPAN®’s approach also incorporates advanced technologies, including solar panels, ground-source and air-source heat pumps, and wastewater heat recovery systems.
“Most new builds today might achieve an EPC (Energy Performance Certificate) rating of A, but that only requires a score of 92%, which primarily focuses on energy performance. It doesn’t take the fabric of the building into account. When you look at both energy performance and fabric combined, as we do, the difference becomes significant.
“When asked why we focus on hemp, the answer is clear: it’s about carbon reduction. We’ve assessed the life cycle embodied carbon of our homes, and our BIOHAUS® design philosophy achieves 140 kilograms per square metre, compared to 1,000 to 1,500 kilograms for conventional builds. That means we’re saving 1 tonne of embodied carbon per square metre of space. For a 250-square-metre home, that translates to a 250-tonne carbon saving, which is enormous.”
Globally, 40% of carbon emissions come from the built environment and infrastructure, with homes being a significant contributor. Of that, 28% is due to energy use in operation – inefficient homes that require excessive gas and electricity to stay warm – and 11% comes from the carbon footprint of the materials used in construction.
Hemp’s rapid growth and carbon sequestration capabilities make it an ideal material for sustainable construction. One hectare of hemp can sequester 11 tonnes of CO₂ in a single growing season, significantly outperforming trees.
“We’re confident we can go further, achieving embodied carbon levels below 100 kilograms per square metre, pushing beyond even an A++ Life Cycle Embodied Carbon and 110% EPC ratings,” says Belcher.
New construction facility
While the company is currently outsourcing the construction of its hemp-fibre panels, plans are already underway to construct a new factory that will bring this in-house, streamlining raw material processing, panel assembly and final construction.
HEMSPAN®’s Rochford Park project is a cornerstone of its ambition to scale. “Rochford Park will be the first large-scale climate-positive community in the UK,” Belcher shares.
The development will feature 2,000+ homes and a large production facility, and create 1,000 new jobs. Beyond housing, it aims to boost regional agriculture by providing farmers with a profitable break crop, improving infrastructure and supporting local economies.
“We already have a location for the factory, and it’s tied to a site for a significant number of homes. This project will act as a catalyst for opening the factory and provide the pipeline needed to secure the capital for our plans.
“We’ve been having productive discussions with a number of landowners, primarily for projects in the south of England, including Cambridgeshire, with a key focus on a principal site in Essex. We’re also exploring opportunities in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. We have our sights set on a specific development that could provide a fast route to establishing the pipeline needed to open our production facility.
“However, we’re not relying solely on this project – other opportunities could emerge, so we’re not putting all our eggs in one basket.”
“}]] Last week, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer committed to building 1.5 million homes over the current parliament, targeting the construction of 300,000 homes annually to align with long-advocated figures to address under-supply. Read More
