Adnams begins journey to repay carbon debt

The Adnams Brewery Distribution Centre in Southwold, Suffolk is the first major construction project in the UK to reverse the damaging effects of greenhouse gases produced, by using a combination of Hemp and Lime in its walls.

The new technology, which has been developed and applied in Europe by Lhoist for over a decade, was introduced into the UK marketplace earlier this year. Thanks to the 90,000 Hemp, Lime and Chalk blocks produced in partnership with Lime Technology and the Tradical Hemcrete infill, 150 tonnes of CO2 has been locked up in the warehouse walls, which is equivalent to 1.5 million miles worth of emissions from a Ford Escort or sixty times around the Earth.

Where a conventional brick and block building of the same size would have been responsible for up to 600 tonnes of CO2 emissions, the Adnams warehouse has made a potential saving of up to 750 tonnes of CO2, by using the Tradical Hemp Lime technology in its construction.

The combination of patented air-lime based binders and the woody core of the industrial hemp plant results in the capture of significant amounts of carbon from the atmosphere.

Hemp, in common with all similar plants, transforms carbon dioxide during its rapid growth and captures the carbon, releasing the oxygen to atmosphere. This has an immediate positive effect in achieving the sequestration of the principal greenhouse gas and furthermore, this captured carbon is then locked into the fabric of the buildings constructed. Finally, when the air-lime based binder sets, even more carbon dioxide absorption occurs which all contributes to reversing the carbon debt.

High insulating properties of the Hemp Lime walls means that the 4400m2 distribution centre will have the ability to maintain the internal temperature at 11-13 degrees centigrade without any mechanical cooling or heating system. The ability to store the thousands of bottles of beer and wine in these conditions when the project is completed in September 2006, is due to the outstanding thermal performance of the Hemp component and with low density, compressed Hemcrete^TM used between the external and internal blockwork, a greater U-value has been achieved.

Tom Woolley, Professor of Architecture at Queens University Belfast, Chair of the Hemp Lime Construction Products Association and author of 'Natural Building' comments: "Most buildings in the UK using natural and low carbon materials are small houses, however the Adnams hemp walled warehouse catapults this environmentally friendly technology into main stream commercial building."

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