Promoting the hemp theme by French builders

June 18, on the occasion of the opening of the General Assembly “ Construire” en Hemp ”, the four winners of the French National Award for Hemp Construction have been announced.

The many benefits of hemp raw materials (a natural material that sequesters carbon, is insulating and sustainable, obtained through annual cultivation) make it an ideal building material that responds to various challenges and solves most of the problems of our time (resource shortages, global warming, waste management and etc.). The project of French hemp growers once again emphasizes the commitment of the initiators and owners of construction projects, designers and various categories of builders, who in all corners of France are learning to wisely use hemp raw materials in various forms to create new objects, repair or restoration (in the form of fire concrete, in prefabricated products, in insulation rolls or panels, etc.).

The French modern construction sector using natural materials continues to develop, both in terms of the use of hemp raw materials (benefiting the local economy) and in terms of the industrial transformation of the plant for various needs of the construction industry. Methods and forms of hemp construction are gradually becoming more complex. Not only fire concrete is used , but also insulating panels, walls or blocks pre-fabricated and assembled on site, as well as other construction products with high added value.

It can be argued that the creation of buildings and structures from the plant is experiencing a turning point in France, as new professional rules for hemp construction in the country will appear in July 2024. This is also why on June 18, on the occasion of the opening of the General Assembly “ Construire en Hemp ”, the four winners of the French National Award for Hemp Construction have been announced.

It should be noted that at the initial stage of the competition, projects were selected from categories that open up a field of possibilities, therefore , despite a significant number of applications, fairly simple solutions were selected for already implemented projects, without building any typological segmentation. It is likely that the diversity of hemp construction project categories will increase over the next year, with social housing and state-of-the-art building projects being highlighted.

The following projects were nominated for the competition:

• the constructed building of the media library “ d'Etouvie ” - in the category “ Innovative use of fire concrete ”;

• restoration of the “ Manuco ” building – in the category “ Restoration using bone concrete ”;

• reconstruction of an industrial building at the “CNPE Chinon ” site – in the category “ Conversion of industrial premises into residential ones using hemp building materials ”;

• reconstruction of a rural building from 1790 in the Vosges – in the category “ Hemp renovation in rural areas ”.

Innovative uses of bone concrete

The media library d' Etouvie , located west of Amiens, is a project carried out by the architectural agency Beal Blanckaert ” and delivered in 2023. This is the first project in the Hauts-de-France region to effectively combine wood and recycled materials.

Behind the apparent simplicity of its constituent halls lies a complex geometry with offset projections that allow the rooms to be united in a single design by connecting polished purlins between the long sides and gables.

Pi-Œuvre company machine-applied a 30 cm layer of fire concrete on the outside of the timber frame wall.

Restoration using bone concrete 

“ Manuco ” is a 19th-century Bordeaux architecture building that has become an entrepreneurial center dedicated to the social and solidarity economy, with four social housing properties.

The building was reconstructed in 2022. 800 m² of specialized fire concrete was applied by Matière Chanvre ” on the facades, and also mechanically sprayed on the internal walls with a thickness of 12 cm and covered with a special lime coating.

 Interior decoration in “ Manuco ” premises 

Converting industrial premises into residential ones using hemp building materials

Reconstruction of an industrial building at the CNPE Chinon site , carried out by SARL BEE Architecture on behalf of EDF Chinon , which decided to create changing rooms and a conference room on one side and a bus station center on the other.

The project was completed in 2023 and is part of the Loire-à-Velot road route. Part of the building was renovated using hemp building materials.

The steel structure and building materials used during the construction of the original building were reused and supplemented with timber frame walls.

1,040 m² of hemp insulation was installed in the timber frame walls and interior cladding of the building. It is necessary to emphasize that hemp insulation exhibits very good rigidity and excellent mechanical resistance over a long period of time.

Hemp renovation in rural areas 

An extensive renovation of a 1790 rural property in the Vosges that had been uninhabited for several decades, a fine example of renovation and construction using hemp building materials in the countryside.

Since 2023, the building, which has retained its rustic beauty, has comfortably housed the offices of the architectural agency FaireSens , as well as a two-room duplex apartment. The site became a showcase of local know-how and the diversity of organic and geographical materials available nearby.

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