Practical Course: Straw Bale Building with Barbara Jones
Practical Course: Straw Bale Building with Barbara Jones
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Join us for a 5-day practical course where you'll be learning all the essential skills of building with straw bales. This course welcomes folks of all building abilities, and our build sites are renowned for attracting wonderful, welcoming people, so you'll feel at home on this course no matter whether you're a beginner or an experienced craftsperson.
Barbara will also be teaching a Lime Plastering course at this project, August 12-16. Click here for more info and tickets.
Crickamore, Co. Donegal, Ireland (outside Dungloe)
We’ll be building the straw walls of a timber frame bungalow, being self built by the hosts. Our Straw Bale Building course covers the practical aspects of building with straw, and by the end of the course, participants will have gained both knowledge and hands-on construction experience which includes:
- How to identify a good construction bale
- How to dress and customise bales
- Notching bales
- Infilling straw bales around a timber frame
- Creating reveals around windows and doors
- Making the walls straight
- Compression of the wall
- Preparing straw bale walls for plastering
- and much more!
ABOUT THE LIVE BUILD:
Learning with us on this project will give you experience building strawbale walls within a load-bearing timber frame, with a focus on using low-impact, natural and recycled materials. Ireland has a culture of 'coffin bales' which are denser and larger than small bales. This innovative project will be working with these larger format bales therefore this course is NOT with the usual small straw bales. It is difficult to source construction grade bales in this size in this location, and so instead we are using coffin bales which are 2300mm x 500mm x 870mm. This is a unique opportunity to build with an unusual but appropriate size of bale. Incidentally, your trainer, Barbara Jones, has worked with these bales before on the very first legally approved strawbale house in the UK back in 1996. Participants will receive a Straw Bale Build certificate from the School of Natural Building.
The School of Natural Building is a not-for-profit BenCom, set up to benefit communities, and doesn't receive external funding. However, we believe in driving representation within the construction and building industry, and price our courses as fairly as we can to ensure that they remain accessible. Our prices include tuition, all materials, tools and equipment, and daily refreshments (bring your own packed lunch).
PRICING:
We endeavour to make our courses and events affordable to all. We have a limited number of subsidised places available on every course and a rate for participants being sponsored through their work or higher earners. Subsidised places are limited and are intended for those who truly cannot afford the standard rate. We don't ask for any proof, but ask that you use your judgement when purchasing.
£400 - Sponsored / income over 30k rate
£300 - Individual rate
£150 - Subsidised rate
See full Terms and Conditions here.
Barbara is the founder of The School of Natural Building (SNaB), and the UK’s pre-eminent straw-bale building authority. She has decades of experience in natural building and cement-free foundations and works as a designer, builder and trainer. Her book, 'Building with Straw Bales; A Practical Manual for Self-Builders and Architects' is considered the essential guide to building with straw and together with Eileen Sutherland and others, she wrote the Technical Guide to Straw Construction in the UK. She is a Fellow of the RSA and has a Lifetime Achievement award, a Woman of Outstanding Achievement award, and was voted the most inspirational woman builder by the CIOB. She is a founder member of Tod College, a community owned and run learning hub, and host to many of SNaB’s activities. Barbara thinks she has the best job in the world!
The School of Natural Building believes in the urgency of the climate challenge, and our work is fundamentally about supporting a low-carbon future where people live in ways which bring us closer to the earth, back into community with our ecosystem and back to ourselves. For this reason, we urge participants to travel to our course locations via public or shared transport where possible. We'll connect course participants via a WhatsApp group in advance of the course, to facilitate ride-sharing (which might also help with aligning accommodation options).
ACCOMMODATION:
It is up to participants to organise their own accommodation and there is no capacity for camping on-site. There are various accommodation options nearby, including these found by your hosts: Teac Campbell B&B, Caisleáin Óir Hotel, Wheelhouse Glamping Pods, Maghery - Camping, and more included in the course info sheet.
ACCESS:
Practical courses take place on construction sites, which often means participants will be walking on rough terrain or through spaces which pose accessibility issues. Those with reduced mobility or in wheelchairs should reach out to us for more information regarding the accessibility of the specific course site you'd like to join, and we can assess the options together.
There are limited places on this course, and booking is essential. Please use the button below to pay and secure your place. Please note that for insurance reasons, all participants must be 16 or over. We look forward to meeting you on site, but if you have any questions ahead of attending, please email hello@schoolofnaturalbuilding.co.uk.
Location
Crickamore, Co. Donegal