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Hello folks My partner and I are three quarters through a self build strawbale house in rural Stirlingshire. We're fully offgrid with solar pv and rainwater harvesting. There's a lot of carpentry involved and I've done most myself, including building a 6 x 4m workshop on site. I've already used Buildhub to find the answers to many questions, and am looking forward to posting my own. Happy to answer any questions on our build.

Hi Folks! Having used BuildHub as a learning resource for a little while, I've pulled my finger out and got a sign-in. After a year of getting our ducks in line, we are about to apply for planning for a home on our smallholding in Somerset. It may be on the optimistic side, but we are aiming for an off-grid build, to passive house standards (intending to get certified), primarily from sustainable materials. The design is very close to complete now, and the next stage for us is to put our plans in front of a design review panel. Part of the reason for this, is that our planning application will be made under paragraph 80e (previously paragraph 79, before that paragraph 55). (A national planning policy, first established in 1997, which sets out various circumstances which can enable the erection of new isolated dwellings in the open countryside.) I understand that getting a good report from the design panel is a significant step towards success with this planning route. The fundamental plan is to try and build: A 4 bed detached home Concrete-free foundations Using load-bearing straw bale construction technique To achieve an overall carbon negative construction Off-grid A large PV array Several large lithium batteries for storage Bore hole for water WETs system to process grey/black water Achieving passive house certification We still have a lot to figure out, but I'm learning more every day. Thanks for everyone on here for contributing to BuildHub as an information resource.

Hi everyone from Sunny Wales. I want to build a straw bale house but am finding it difficult to find a mortgage supplier that doesn't want 20-30% up front. Are there any lesser known economic friendly banks, building societies or lenders that will do it for less than this? Any help and info will be much appreciated. Regards Welsh homesteader