Scott Simpson, co-founder and chief technology officer of IndiNature introduces a real innovation in insulation
For the past two decades there has been nothing revolutionary about insulation materials – until now. Scotland-based IndiNature is leading the charge in introducing eco-friendly building materials which will support the decarbonisation of the construction sector.
In February this year the company became the first UK company manufacturing industrial hemp insulation to be awarded a full agrément certificate from the British Board of Agrément (BBA). This means the hemp-based materials can now be used at scale in both new build and retrofit projects. It can replace conventional mineral wool insulation in the majority of building projects.
The benefits to builders are many-fold:
– The material is soft and safe to handle making the installers job easier. It can be easily cut to size using a special saw. Insulation batts provide simple friction fit against timber or masonry and are more rigid to prevent slumping.
– We are working on making the hemp materials price competitive with conventional insulation. As volume sales grow the price will become more affordable.
– Hemp has a net capture of carbon in contrast to other insulation materials which produce large amounts of carbon as a by-product of their production process.
– The material is warm in winter; hemp has great thermal performance reducing heat loss.
– Hemp is cool in summer; the material reduces the risk of buildings overheating by passively storing and releasing excess heat keeping temperatures even all year long.
– IndiNature products can be reused at the end of life or reprocessed into the same products thereby reducing waste. Moreover, all the hemp and flax used is produced in UK farms supporting local jobs and reducing carbon miles.
– Our flagship product IndiTherm has passed the UKAS fire standard EN 13501-1 and for smoke it has the best Class rating of s1. For flaming droplets, the product has none showing a Class d0.
– The material is particularly suitable for historic and listed buildings as it keeps structures dry.
– Hemp has excellent sound dampening properties achieving 40db sound reduction in internal partition walls.
We have worked closely with the building sector to ensure the hemp-based material meets all needs such as ease of use, installation, safety, and environmentally friendliness. The IndiNature journey began in 2016 when I was studying sustainable architecture at the Centre for Alternative Technology and found that natural insulation materials had many performance benefits over conventional materials. Using my family home as a living case study I used the best natural materials available to rebuild and extend it. Our three-bed home now has energy bills 25% less than average and temperature and humidity are even all year around offering a more comfortable and healthy environment.
One major issue I had was availability of natural building materials. They were hard to source, expensive and had to be imported. This prompted me to think about developing hemp-based insulation in the UK. To build the IndiNature Mill in Jedburgh and bring our products to market has involved raising £10m of investment over the past eight years.
We can now produce our hemp-based batts at scale to be used as a simple alternative to conventional mineral wool insulation in construction projects, such as open timber frame studs, roofs and floors.
The hemp used in the mill is currently sourced from East Yorkshire Hemp but plans are in the pipeline to have hemp grown in Scotland to further reduce the environmental impact. Hemp was a traditional crop in the UK and is farmed extensively in Europe. It is a fast-growing annual crop making it highly renewable and sustainable.
IndiNature products are now available direct from the mill as well as merchants and distributors across the UK. For further information about the company, products or where to buy visit www.indinature.co
About the author
Scott Simpson is a co-founder of IndiNature and current chief technical officer. Prior to IndiNature he was working in grassroots community development in the UK, working in neighbourhoods with poor social housing conditions. He wanted to learn how to make buildings healthier and more affordable to heat, so he completed an MSc in Architecture (Advanced Environmental and Energy Systems) and focused on lab-based research into natural building materials. He put theory to practice by rebuilding his family home with them in Scotland, using skills gained as a housebuilder in Vancouver.
