The Sustainable Building Alliance

The Sustainable building Alliance has now started working in New Zealand! Educators and advocates for sustainable building since 1992 we bring an enthusiasm to our work - we love strawbale! We have been designing, building, and living in strawbale houses for fifteen years and they are beautiful and efficient. Go to our Photo Gallery page to see what fabulous homes people have built.

A pioneering strawbale homeowner in the southwest of the United States, Virginia Carrabelli, said "It just makes too much sense!"

Over the next few months we are offering workshops and seminars on the South Island. We teach people how to do strawbale building using hands-on workshops and through our free seminars. Michael has been a speaker and presenter at many conferences and we are continuing with that here in New Zealand. Please go to our Workshops page to see what is happening.

Strawbale homes provide a superior wall insulation value to help maintain healthy indoor air temperatures. Strawbale homes are quiet and strong - the walls are 450mm - 600mm thick. You feel safe and secure. Straw is a waste product of growing grain for food. By using it for building rather than burning we reduce air pollution too. For other benefits and reasons why strawbale makes sense, see our "Why Use Straw?" page.

Our Resource and How-to Build pages are being updated and improved, so check them both out over the next few weeks to see what new information is available.

2009 WORKSHOPS Announced

Our construction has started for the Golden Bay Strawbale Workshops for 2009. We will be having a large variety of workshops this year from 3-day weekend wall raisings, to 9-day intensive workshops and even a month long strawbale immersion course. Click the link at the top of any page to see the workshop listings.  Workshop Page

Earth Plastering Weekends: 23 May 9am - 3pm,  and 30-31 May 9am - 3pm
Come out and learn about applying earth plasters to strawbale. You can put it on with your hands or a trowel - it's easy and fun. Plastering your own home is a great way to save money and make your home construction more affordable. You will see how you and your friends can easily have a party during your plastering. Please call to confirm your place.

Eco-Neighborhood Page

SBA is happy to announce plans to build an eco-neighborhood in Golden Bay starting with ten strawbale homes. We hope to be able to do more neighborhoods after these first homes are built. For more information please go to our Eco-Neighborhood Page

 

 

For further information please feel free to contact Michael Thomas, Executive Director of Sustainable Building at the address and email below.