We are an informal, grassroots association of people who have an interest in strawbale building. Our members come from very varied backgrounds - some are environmental enthusiasts, others are sustainable builders, some are building officials or architects, others simply believe strongly in a vision of a different world.



As an association, we hold meetings, host an annual Gathering and produce a quarterly newsletter called Baling Out, as well as distributing to our members the "Last Straw" magazine. Some of our members teach workshops in strawbale building, clay and lime plastering, building regulations and related subjects. Some can help you to design and create your own building. Some can design and build for you. Still more will come as volunteers on your project and help you build. Along with strong European contacts we are also part of a Global strawbale network, with international contacts such as The Last Straw magazine, produced in New Mexico, USA.



Strawbale building began in the UK about 1995, since then there has been an increasing number of people interested in the whole idea of sustainable building, strawbale building being part of that. We don't know how many strawbale structures there are in Ireland and the UK, but guess at around 80-100 and possibly more. By no means have all of them been built by our members, but there seemed to be a growing need for straw bale enthusiasts to network with each other, have a means of finding out current practice and to share information, so in February 1999 an Association was formed to help cater for these needs.



http://www.strawbalebuildingassociation.org.uk/index.html