1. Winter 2010
limetalk
Coworth Park The Triangle
starts on site
specifies Tradical® Work has started on site at The Triangle
in Swindon, a project that will see the
Hemcrete
construction of 42 new homes designed to
® meet Level 4 of the Code for Sustainable
Homes, with the potential to upgrade to
carbon zero status.
The homes, being delivered by Hab
Coworth Park, the luxury country house hotel and spa in Berkshire, has specified Oakus, the joint venture between Kevin
Tradical® Hemcrete®, the innovative hemp and lime thermal walling system McCloud’s company Hab and housing group
from Lime Technology, for The Spa at Coworth Park, an exclusive eco-luxury spa GreenSquare, are being built using Tradical®
complementing the hotel. Hemcrete® from Lime Technology. The main
contractor is Willmott Dixon Housing.
The start on site was marked at a
groundbreaking ceremony attended by
Housing Minister Grant Shapps, the UK
Green Building Council’s Paul King, Jonathon
Porritt of Forum for the Future and Kevin
McCloud. Rather than the traditional
“turning of the sod”, the team instead opted
to perform a demonstration of Tradical®
Hemcrete®.
Designed by architects Purcell Miller Tritton LLP, building’s timber frame, to a thickness of 300mm,
the new spa, which will boast an exciting range it ensures 100mm cover to the framework for
of ecology features, is set in the green belt and optimum thermal performance. The completed
is being developed from the previous private walls were then faced with a formulated
residence. As an exemplar of new sustainable lime render, also from Lime Technology. This Grant Shapps said, “I never thought my
buildings being pioneered by Purcell Miller Tritton comprises a 15mm thick basecoat of Baumit first photo call would be hemp,” before
LLP, The Spa at Coworth Park has been designed Fibrous Lightweight Render FL68, ruled flat, grid reiterating the Government’s continuing
to blend in with the natural landscape. As such, floated and left to dry fully before a 5mm final commitment to zero carbon housing by
the new building is part buried into the ground coat of Baumit (formulated lime) Render Finish 2016. Jonathon Porritt called the project
and emerges to the north of the site under a MC55 is applied. “hugely important,” and acknowledged
living roof of chamomile, lavender and thyme. “the marshalling of passion, commitment
Jeremy Blake, Senior Partner with Purcell Miller
With a desire to only use materials that offer the Tritton LLP, commented: and expertise” which has brought the
utmost in sustainability, Purcell Miller Tritton LLP project to this point.
specified Tradical® Hemcrete® for the construction “We’re delighted to have had the
The Triangle has been supported with an
of the outer walls of Coworth Park. Its carbon- opportunity to specify Tradical® Hemcrete®. investment of around £2.5 million from
negative qualities and high thermal performance, It is an incredible product and perfect the Homes and Communities Agency’s
as well as being a natural and sustainable to achieve the sustainable objectives National Affordable Housing Programme.
material, are consistent with the overall ethos of of Coworth Park. It really is unmatched It has also been backed by an £840,000
the eco-luxury spa. investment from the Department of Energy
in the market as a mainstream option
and Climate Change (DECC) Low Carbon
Specialist contractor Quickseal created the spa’s for affordable, high performance and
Tradical® Hemcrete® walls. Cast in situ around the Investment Fund.
sustainable construction.”
Limetec® is a registered trademark of Lime Technology
www.limetechnology.co.uk

2. CAT WISE demonstates commercial Think You
viability of Tradical® Hemcrete® Know Tradical®
Hemcrete®?
Europe’s leading Eco Centre, CAT (Centre for Alternative Technology), one of the first projects
to specify Lime Technology’s Tradical® Hemcrete®, an innovative thermal walling solution
comprising hemp and lime, has been officially opened.
Well think again! All of these projects have
been built using Tradical® Hemcrete®. From
sleek modern homes with crisps white
render to a new build traditional manor
house with stone cladding and lime mortar
to the sympathetic renovation and thermal
improvement of a barn. It just goes to show
what a highly versatile project Tradical®
Hemcrete® really is.
An ambitious project designed by architects lecture theatre and multiple smaller teaching and
Pat Borer and David Lea, the scheme has research spaces.
been funded by a range of organisations and
The 2,000 sq mtrs CAT WISE building was
individuals, including an Objective 2 grant from
conceived as an opportunity to use green
the European Union provided through the Welsh
technologies that currently enjoy only marginal
Assembly Government.
take-up within the construction industry. For
CAT was established 36 years ago by Gerard this reason Lime Technology’s Tradical®
Morgan-Grenville, who in his late thirties, had Hemcrete® was a natural choice for creating
become increasingly alarmed by his sense the buildings’ walls.
that mankind was living beyond the earth’s
With the exception of the lecture theatre, CAT
means. Having visited cultural communities that
WISE’s primary structure comprises a glue
were exploring the possibility of self-sufficient
laminated timber frame, infilled with Tradical®
living and finding none of their efforts very
Hemcrete® from Lime Technology.
persuasive, he bought a disused slate quarry near
Machynlleth in Wales and set about establishing a The Tradical® Hemcrete® was spray-applied to a
research centre. thickness of 500mm around the timber frame by
specialist contractor Quickseal.
Over the past decade CAT has grown and
It was then finished externally in a coat of
today employs 90 paid staff and runs
Limetec® hydraulic lime render also supplied by
three postgraduate courses for architects
Lime Technology. Specified in a mustard colour, it
and environmental engineers as well as
creates a warm contrast to the dark backdrop of
offering professional training for installers of
the Welsh forest and surrounding slate.
photovoltaics and biomass generators. As part
of this growth, a new building has been created Now open to students and researchers, the
to house CAT’s educational activities. The £4.5 CAT WISE campus is another great example of the
million Wales Institute for Sustainable Education commercial viability of environmentally friendly
(WISE) offers 24 en-suite study bedrooms, a products such as Tradical® Hemcrete®.
Flagship Marks & Spencer store to be Built using Hemclad®
A new 195,000 sq ft Marks & Spencer store Lime Technology will provide 226 pre-fabricated
in Cheshire Oaks is being built using panels for the construction of the store’s external
Hemclad®, an innovative pre-fabricated walls. The panels will be typically 2.4m high x
wall panel developed by Lime Technology. 4.8m wide and 400mm thick.
Offering the cost effective and fast track Once completed, the store, which has been
construction credentials associated with offsite designed by architects Aukett Fitzroy Robinson
construction, its USP is the fact that it offers and is being built by main contractors Simons
high levels of insulation, thermal inertia and Group, will be Marks and Spencer’s largest
negative embodied carbon. Each timber cassette outside of London and is expected to create
panel is filled with Lime Technology’s Tradical® more than 350 jobs.
Hemcrete®, a bio-composite material made with
hemp with a lime binder.

3. Limetec® chosen for
whitechapel gallery expansion
Limetec® hydraulic lime mortar from Lime Technology has been specified for the ambitious £13 million expansion to the
Whitechapel Art Gallery in East London.
Designed by Belgian architect Robbrecht en Daem and former
Yaya nominee Witherford Watson Mann Architects, the
remodeling has unite and preserved two landmark buildings –
the gallery and the adjacent Grade II listed library.
In view of the historical significance of the buildings, all
new building materials had to be carefully chosen. Lime
Technology’s Limetec® hydraulic lime mortar offered the
ideal product to match the existing mortar and maintain the
building’s integrity.
An environmentally sensitive alternative to cement-based
mortar, lime mortar has many desirable characteristics. It is
porous and breathable. It is also flexible, which means that it
has the ability to accommodate slight movements in a building
caused by settlement or thermal shock eliminating the need
for intrusive expansion joints.
Almost doubling in size the expanded Whitechapel Gallery
includes three new galleries – a Collection, A Commission and
an Archive Collection Gallery – an Archive Research Room, an
Education and Research Tower for local schools, community
groups and a new street facing café and full disabled access
to the whole building.
Lime Mortar specified for
Oxford’s latest college building
Limetec® hydraulic lime mortar from Lime Technology has been its established roots, the new building features a traditionally designed
specified for the Pipe Partridge building at Lady Margaret Hall, one exterior. For the vast expanses of brick work, traditional lime mortar from
of the colleges in the University of Oxford. Lime Technology was the natural choice.
An environmentally sensitive alternative to cement-based mortar, lime
mortar has many desirable characteristics. Its main advantages for many
new build projects such as the Pipe Partridge building is that it is flexible,
which means it has the ability to accommodate slight movements in the
structure caused by settlement or thermal shock, thus eliminating the need
for intrusive expansion joints.
As well as this, lime mortar is breathable, helping to create comfortable
buildings.
Lime Technology’s lime mortar, Limetec®, offers all the benefits of
traditional lime mortar but is produced using modern manufacturing
techniques. As well as 25kg bags, it is available in 1 tonne bulk bags or
30 tonne bulk silos. The silo system provides onsite production of mortar,
Built by main contractor EH Beard, the Pipe Partridge building, made significantly reducing wastage and guaranteeing a correctly proportioned
possible through generous donations, features a new lecture theatre, a mix every time, as mortar can be produced at the simple touch of a button.
dining room/meeting rooms, junior common rooms and 64 high quality
student rooms, enabling the college to guarantee accommodation for all For the construction of the Pipe Partridge building, Lime Technology
undergraduate students on the main site for three years. provided a silo that was refilled by tanker as required to ensure a
continuous supply. This ingenious method of onsite material production
Lady Margaret Hall was founded in 1878 and is an academic community has helped to ensure that lime mortar, once seen as a traditional, niche
committed to research and scholarship and to effective, highly personalised material, is now viable for large scale projects.
teaching and learning for students from all backgrounds. In keeping with

4. www.limetechnology.co.uk
Hemcrete Projects starts Hemp harvest
work on new homes scheme marks continued
Specialist contractor Hemcrete Projects The homes at Lyndhurst Crescent, Swindon have
been part funded from a £778,000 grant from the
growth
has started work on the creation of
Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) following Hemp Technology is currently
Swindon’s first new council home a successful bid from Swindon Borough Council.
programme for a quarter of a century. completing this year’s harvest of
The scheme has been funded through the Local
The project will see the creation of 12 Authority New Build programme, which is hemp. The first harvest since Lime
two and three bed houses and one five investing nearly £18 million in delivering 270 Technology acquired the business
bedroom low carbon home. new council-owned homes across the South West. from Hemcore, it marks a significant
The properties will feature a range of energy step in the continued growth of the
saving materials including photovoltaic panels company.
for generating electricity, solar panels for Over 3,000 acres of hemp has been cut,
pre-heating hot water and a hot water system which had been planted earlier in the year,
designed to store water at lower temperatures and the material is now being processed at
than standard homes. Tradical® Hemcrete® is its factory in Halesworth, Suffolk.
being used to create the walls of the homes.
Hemcrete Projects is a contractor that specialises
in the delivery of projects using Tradical®
Hemcrete®, offering clients a full solution from
design through to delivery.
Swindon Borough Council currently owns more
than 10,000 properties in the borough, but the
Lyndhurst Crescent development will see the first
newly-built council homes since the mid 1980s.
Using Tradical® Hemcrete® offered significant
benefits including excellent fire resistance,
air tightness and low energy costs. The system
also provided a very cost effective method of
Designed to meet Level 5 of the Code for meeting the stringent requirements of Level 5
Sustainable Homes, the homes are being built of the Code for Sustainable Homes.
using Tradical® Hemcrete® from Lime Technology.
Breathe™ natural fibre insulation
achieves Euroclass fire rating
Hemp Technology’s innovative and highly Suitable for lofts, walls and floors
sustainable natural fibre insulation applications, Breathe’s™ semi-rigid batts
Breathe™, has achieved a Euroclass E are available in thicknesses of 50mm, 75mm
classification for reaction to fire, further or 100mm. It comes in standard sizes of
1,200mm x 575mm and 1,200mm x 375mm. The material will be used as the key
extending the product’s many desirable
For more information visit ingredient of Lime Technology’s thermal
properties.
www.breatheinsulation.com. walling solution, Tradical® Hemcrete® and
Launched earlier this year, Breathe™ is Hemp Technology’s natural fibre insulation,
produced from UK grown hemp and flax and Breathe™.
offers a renewable and low-carbon means of
Managing the hemp growing and
insulating lofts, walls and floors. The product
processing has provided Lime Technology
has many desirable performance qualities –
with greater control over its supply chain
it has a thermal conductivity of 0.039 W/mK,
and allows it to offer a fully integrated
which boosts thermal comfort by reducing
supply from seed to final building to enable
overheating in summer and damping
the company to provide the highest levels
internal temperature fluctuations. It has
of service, quality and cost effectiveness to
immense breathability as its hemp fibres
its clients.
can absorb and release moisture without
damage or the loss of all important thermal
performance.
Limetec® is a registered trademark of Lime Technology
Lime Technology Limited, Unit 126, Milton Park,
Abingdon, Oxfordshire OX14 4SA
Tel: 0845 603 1143 Fax: 0845 634 1560
Email: info@limetechnology.co.uk
Website: www.limetechnology.co.uk