Neil and Carol Preston are hand building their dream home from "hempcrete", an eco-friendly alternative to bricks and mortar.
"We both hate brick," Mr Preston said. "We looked at concrete panel but it was like being in a morgue."Standing in the doorway of their nearly-complete house in Swan Hill — more than a year since construction began — the Prestons say they are already reaping the benefits. "One of the issues with hempcrete is the specialised labour element because there is such a small amount of people who know how to do it," said Melbourne-based hempcreter Will Brain.Mr Brain learnt about hemp masonry while living in Italy during the COVID-19 pandemic and later studied the trade in the UK, but when he returned to Australia he realised the industry was almost non-existent.
"Per square metre for the traditional cast-in-place method, it is about $500 to $600," Mr Brain said.He said there had already been significant uptake of the cheaper alterative. It heard that in the 2019 to 2020 financial year, only 200 hectares of hemp were planted in Victoria.Last season, only six of the 42 Victorian farmers with a licence to produce industrial hemp grew crops, contributing about 8 per cent of the country's total harvest.
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Source: 7NewsAustralia - 🏆 11. / 71 Read more »