Hempcrete builders in Minnesota are taking a leadership role in the newly launched Minnesota Efficient Builders Coalition (MEBC), which will advance efficient, high-performance, and low-carbon residential construction.

INTERVIEW: Miles Gathright is co-founder of Boardwurks Biocomposites, a Florida-based innovator developing carbon-smart construction panels made from hemp hurd and recycled composites.

The Swiss construction company Openly introduced last month a new class of CO₂ certificates monetizing the carbon dioxide permanently sequestered in buildings constructed with biogenic materials like hempcrete and timber. The launch follows a year of development, founders said.

At this year’s Greenbuild Conference and Expo, held Nov. 4–7 in Los Angeles, bio-based building materials took the spotlight — both on the show floor and in one of the conference’s most crowded sessions.

A French lime manufacturer best known for heritage restoration is entering the hemp-lime construction market with a new family of products designed for hempcrete and other plant-based building materials.

Hemp-lime (hempcrete) construction in US residential building codes took a major step forward in Cleveland last week when proposed updates to Appendix BL of the 2027 International Residential Code (IRC) were unanimously approved during the International Code Council (ICC) Committee Week proceedings. An online fundraiser successfully raised more than $12,000 to pay for the code adoption.

International and US experts in hemp-lime construction gathered at the Lower Sioux Community in Morton, MN to celebrate hemp-based building materials at the 13th Annual International Hemp Building Symposium this month. Co-hosted by the Ireland-based International Hemp Building Association (IHBA) and the Lower Sioux Hemp Program, the event featured both scientific research and practical applications of bio-based building materials.

When my husband, Steve, and I moved from the UK to Portugal’s Silver Coast, we certainly didn't plan on buying an entire ruined village. Our original idea was just a small house and an Airbnb conversion. But then Chumbaria caught my eye online—it was love at first sight! We bought the small cluster of derelict stone buildings for €200,000, and our epic renovation journey began.

The 13th International Hemp Building Symposium (IHBS) is scheduled to take place from October 3–5 on the Lower Sioux Indian Community reservation in Morton, Minnesota. The event marks a historically significant collaboration, positioning the Lower Sioux Community at the forefront of sustainable and regenerative construction in North America.

At the 2025 Rocky Mountain Natural Building Conference in Bozeman, Montana, last week, three leaders in hemp-based construction shared their perspectives on the material’s future: Greg Wilson of HempWood, Matt Marino of Homeland Hempcrete, and architect April Magill of Root Down Building Collective. (Full disclosure: I serve as executive director of the conference hosts, the Colorado-based Natural Building Alliance.)

A group of natural building code experts and building pros submitted updates this summer to the US residential model codes that will make it cheaper and simpler to build with hemp-lime (“hempcrete”). An online fundraiser seeks to raise $12,000 to fund the updates to the 2027 International Residential Code (IRC) that will include ASTM tested 1-hour fire-resistance rated walls.

Ireland’s landscape is steeped in tradition, but the terrain of its future must be shaped by innovation. As the nation faces steep greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets set for 2030, the stakes are high—both environmentally and economically.

Greencore Homes, one of the largest hemp-lime builders in the UK, recently announced two large British housing development projects featuring the company’s “Biond panels” totaling more than 130 new “Better Than Net Zero” homes in Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) was the special guest at the opening of a second factory on the HempWood campus in Murray, KY on Aug. 5.

Hemp building materials will take a prominent place at the Rocky Mountain Natural Building Conference Bozeman Sept. 18-20. Hemp will take the podium along with cob, straw bale, passive house, natural plaster and other natural building technologies, at the Colorado-based Natural Building Alliance's biennial conference held since 2003.

Colorado couple Vladislav “Vladi” Skrejev and Diana Skrejeva have waited a long time — years, in fact —for hemp-lime insulation work to commence on their 2,000 sq. foot home in  the foothills of Colorado, but the excitement when the house was finally hemped made it all worthwhile, they said. 

A Texas-based building materials company Aggricrete has announced a new architectural design competition focused on sustainable, modular housing. The Intentionally Designed Expandable Architectural Structures (I.D.E.A.S.) House Design Contest is now open for submissions from students, professionals, and design enthusiasts around the world.

Minnesota appears to be the first US state on the path to adopting the newest official residential building codes featuring plant-based building materials after a July 15 hearing in St. Paul.

Architects, builders and hemp homeowner hopefuls gathered in Austin July 11 at a landmark event celebrating the city’s formal adoption of hemp-lime construction (commonly known as “hempcrete”) into its residential building codes.

Colorado-based hemp-building pioneer John Patterson of Tiny Hemp Houses returns to “Pine Tree State” of Maine for his third hemp building workshop at the Diggers Cooperative in Acton, ME.