We now have a completed structure. the walls are all rendered with Lime render, the internal works are practically complete and we now only have some minor works to carry out to complete the project. Decorating the inside and out has started and is well under way, we only need to cover the tyres with a timber skirt and install the rain water goods to be able to say the building is finally complete.

Roof is almost finished

We are finally in the dry with the roof light recently installed and the last of the roof timber going on now. We have started to render inside to enable us to finish all internal finishes. All windows and doors are in with some small alterations to be made. We now need to take the scaffolding down to enable us to complete some external works. the final push continues.

The big push continues

We are now working on lots of build elements concurrently to try to bring the build in on time (and before the students head for the beach for the summer). This means we are working on boarding out inside as well as installing electrical trunking whilst fitting the windows and installing the larch boards to the roof outside. The lime render needs to be started soon in order for it to cure intime to decorate before the end of term. All being well we are still on target to complete before the end of term but we cannot afford any more hold ups.

A big push now needed to complete all areas

We are now at a stage with the build that requires a big push in all areas to bring the completion in before all of the students finish for their summer break. This means we will be working in several areas at once. We are currently expecting the main delivery of larch to complete the roof. Along with working on the internal works such as floor joists, electrical works and plasterboarding. All steels are now in place and the windows are due in very soon so that we can begin to render with lime and finish the building. Before the fermacell plasterboard can go up with have filled the roof with thermafleece (Lambswool) insulation and lined it with a vapour barrier. All drainage is in apart from final connections when the scaffolding comes down. So over the next seven weeks we will be looking to finish the building to a point that the trust can fit it out to their own requirements.

Roof is progressing well

The main roof structure is now in place apart from some steels which will be installed over the coming week. We can now start to weather proof the building in order to start work inside. The main students used in the construction of the roof is a third year group tutored by steve who have produced some very good work to add to their college assessments. As the building takes shape and we can now start fitting it out, pressure for the building to be completed also starts to build. Timing is critical especially for the rendering of the straw as rendering too early before compression is complete will result in the bond being broken between the render and the straw. Rendering too late and we will not have time for the lime to cure and the students to carry out the work as they start to complete their work at college and leave for their summer break. I am sure anybody visiting the site will agree the building is starting to look impressive in its surroundings at occombe farm.

Roof work begins

It is now time to start to push on with the roof work but recent weather has slowed up progress. although the storms have not affected the building structurally I am unable to work on the roof if there is a threat of rain as the bales are still vulnerable and require constant protection. This coupled with a sequencing issue regarding the installation of structural steel works before we can complete the structure is giving me a headache. The students are still gaining valuable experiance with a whole group of third year students constructing the main roof structure with assistance from their tutor Steve.

Walls are completed and compression begins

After a significant push by students and all involved in the project, plus a kind spell of good weather we have managed to bring the project back on programme. That being with the walls completed and under compression for the half term break. We even had students assisting the farmer to restring some bales on his farm as a significant number of the original bales were deemed unsuitable due to them getting wet. Again student accuracy amazed me again with the top ring beam being exactly square and exactly plumb over the bottom beam on all four sides. This is with a level of tolerance within 5 mm. Considering we have been using a building product as natural in size and shape as a straw bale. these pictures show the top beam in place and being staked down to the bales below. The next stage is to allign all of the bales with the beams and compree the straw over a period of a week or two. This will then be ready to install the roof.

The walls are growing...

Good progress is being made inbetween the showers. A few bales have got wet and have had to be discarded and some replacements will be made up as quickly as possible. Nick and the students aim to get the upper ring beam in place and ratcheted down before the half term break - which starts in five days time...

Earlier this week Occombe hosted a visit by 20 farm shop operators from across the country who were attending a workshop organised by FARMA (the Farm Retail and Markets Association). The workshop was for people to find out how Occombe Farm won Best Newcomer of the Year 2008 in the annual FARMA Awards. There was great interest in the straw bale building and Nick gave a tour for the group. One delegate has gone away vowing to build the first straw bale farm shop in the country!

Wind and rain try to disrupt progress

The dark picture is due to the weather not the time of day, it shows the difficulty we face with covering over all of the straw each day with tarpaulins and braces to prevent the straw walls collapsing or getting wet.

Straw walls are on the up

Here are some images of the straw walls being constructed on site. It shows each stage from the first bale being positioned to the hazel stakes being driven in. Progress on site has been rapid with the spell of good weather helping us (for the moment). We currently have five courses of bales in place with two to go, this will happen when the scaffolding has been erected.

Ring beam is almost in despite the weather

Work is almost complete on the first ring beam so that the straw can be installed. Here you can see that we are using ratchet straps to bring the beam into square. We checked the diagonal measurements which are within 10mm of each other so already a very good level of accuracy is being achieved by the college students. All carpentry students so far have been 16 or 17 years old so this does bode well for a quality workforce for the future.

We had great difficulty lifting the sections of beam over the tie down bolts but with a bit of persistance and and a few well directed hammer blows all is in place and located in the correct position over the tyres.

600 pointy sticks arrive!

On a soaking wet day last Friday Brian Williamson and his apprentice Ruth delivered their load of pointed hazel rods, which will be used to spike the straw bales together. The rods are superbly uniform and very smart - shame they will be hidden inside the straw once the building is up!

150 bales have also arrived on site and the walls will start to go up this coming week.

Carpentry students get stuck in

Carpentry students begin the construction of the ring beam by cutting 18mm ply wood into strips ready to make a beam for setting the straw bales onto the foundation of tyres. These foundation students had never used this type of powered skill-saw before so they were a little apprehensive, but by the end of the day 88 strips had been cut to the correct width.

As you can see we have also erected a temporary shelter to keep out the worst of the weather.

The next stage for the carpenters is to screw it all together to form the beam as you can see here.

Progress with tyres

Over the past week or so we have been diligently filling the tyres with 10mm chippings, the majority of the filling happened during two days on site with large groups of students working in teams to shovel and compact the stones. I required the assistance of another college staff member (Mike Prosser) to supervise these larger groups. we are now almost ready for the straw walls to go up.

You can also see in the background of this picture that we now have a site office and canteen so that we can establish the required welfare facilities on site. Untill now we have been sharing the occombe farm buildings to satisfy the CDM regulations. We can now be self sufficient on site without interfering with farm operations.

Filling tyres with stone

We are now in the position to fill all of the tyres as we now have enough to complete the foundations. The method we employed to ensure the tyres are full with chippings is to lever the inner edge of the tire with a pick axe and ram the chippings in with a blunt object (stick). We will let the chippings settle for a couple of weeks (over the christmas period) and then we will settle them more using a plate compactor topping up the tyres as required.

Things take shape

Here's a lovely drawing that our architect, Mark Ledgard at Stratton & Holborow has done, to show a little better what the building will look like.

Car tyres are now arriving from our friends at ATS in all the towns hereabouts, who have been collecting the right size tyres for our foundations. We have around 130 of the 180 we need and the students have been setting them out on site. It doesn't look very rural at the moment!

Other highlights - we have commissioned local Devon woodsman Brian Williamson to prepare the 570 pointed hazel stakes we will use to pin the straw bales together, and he's started work already on this, delivery expected early January when we will start on the walls. Here's a picture of Brian's apprentice, Ruth, at work in the woods cutting the hazel rods.

Today a class of College students have had a straw-bale building course on site under Nick's tuition, as a dry run prior to the real build, and have also started fabricating the wall plate out of timber. This sits between the tyres and the straw and is used to anchor everything together.

A static caravan has been manoevred onto site today. Donated by Hoburne Holiday Park in Paignton, the caravan will act as the site office for the next few months, giving the students much-needed shelter and R&R facilities during the doubtless wet Devon winter that's to come.

Students from the college carried out some new (to them) methods of working on site. One of these being the use of a power barrow. After some intensive training from the digger driver they were all given the opportunity to use the equipment to fill the foundations with crusher run stone. This was then spread and compacted in 150mm layers. It was good to see the students keen to get stuck in so that within the first week of operation on site the foundations were dug, lined with a geotextile material and filled to the correct level. The next stage of the job will be to locate the tires into position fill and compact them and prepare for the timber wall base plate. This stage will be carried out with the aid of the carpentry students.

South Devon College students compacting stone in the foundations.

Tyres start to be laid out

The tyres have been donated by local branch of ATS. We are using two sizes 175/65 R14 and 185/65 R14. There will be two rows stacked one on top of the other.

Foundations continued.

Here you can see the the 2 trenches that cross the centre of the building.

Nick Cleasby project leader for South Devon College holds one of the steel rods that will pass up through the foundations, tyres and wooden base plate.