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Britain’s first modern house built from mud is part of a plan to build more energy-efficient homes.
The walls of the CobBauge bungalow in Fakenham, Norfolk, are constructed from three simple ingredients: hemp straw, water and earth (collectively known as Cob). Architect Anthony Hudson used ancient construction methods that comply with modern building regulations. This technology enables mud-lined walls to be insulated to modern standards.
The UK’s first domestic CobBauge building was built last month by local builders Grocott and Murfit, following a four-year program by Hudson Architects. According to the company, building a three-bedroom Cob home can cost as little as £20,000, but the full cost of the project is not yet known.
The house will also feature large south-facing triple-glazed windows to capture solar energy in winter, and an air-source heat pump will provide heating. It forms part of an EU-funded project to bring mud building into the 21st century, with a focus on low-carbon construction, as the first code-compliant maize building.
After the European Union announced it was looking for architects to develop new ways of using earth in homes, Hudson, 68, jumped at the chance. He and his team combined pure corn cobs to create structural integrity and insulating soil. Its green roof will support biodiversity and compensate for the loss of green space on site.
Earth is one of the most sustainable building materials, and some Cob buildings date back more than 500 years, but were replaced by modern methods in the 1800s.
sustainable housing
“The challenge was to build a house using earth as the main building material, but also to be insulated,” said Hudson. “Earth is a very sustainable way of building, especially because it is so widely available in the UK.
“The problem is that for it to be an effective insulator, the walls usually have to be made very thick, which is impractical.”
While mud houses still have a long way to go before they hit the mainstream market, Hudson is convinced they will become the new normal. He added: “While the materials are cheap and readily available, the construction method is very time-consuming. Currently it all has to be done by hand, so labor costs are high.
“However, our next step is to figure out how to redevelop the building to reduce this. Once we have solved this problem, I suspect it will be a very attractive approach.” Mudhouse open day in Fakenham It will be held in March.
lack of investment
A report from the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) revealed that households lost up to £1,900 on their energy bills last year due to a lack of investment in home insulation and green technology. Research by the think tank shows that increased and accelerated investment in insulation, solar panels, renewable energy, heat pumps and electric vehicles over the past decade could save a total of £70 billion by 2023.
It added that the UK would save £56bn in the first two years of the gas crisis in 2022 and 2023, as insulation and cleaner technologies would reduce demand for expensive oil and gas. However, the ECIU said successful policies to improve home insulation and solar power have been abandoned over the past decade, with measures for new homes, heat pumps, electric vehicles and renewable energy being slow to progress or even delayed.
The report said that if the government maintained the energy efficiency support scheme cut in 2013, an extra 10 million homes would receive insulation upgrades, saving £12 billion on electricity bills over the decade. A spokesman for the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero said the department “does not acknowledge these highly speculative figures”.
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