French Heritage Lime Firm Socli Expands into Hemp Building Materials

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Oct 26

Written By Jean Lotus

*A construction student at the Socli training school in the Pyrenees mountains sprays hemp plaster on a wall. Photo courtesy of Pierre-Alexandre LaPlante*

French Heritage Lime Firm Socli Expands into Hemp Building Materials

By Jean Lotus

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, including a new binder formulated without cement.

Socli, a subsidiary of Heidelberg Materials France, has launched four new hemp-compatible lime binders and plasters—Isoliant, Isoliant Eco, Naturlys, and Unilys—marking its first dedicated line for bio-based construction.

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From Historic Restoration to Bio-Based Construction

Based in Izaourt, France in the Pyrenees mountains and founded in 1863, Socli has supplied lime products to French builders with a focus on masonry conservation and restoration of stone buildings.

The new move into hemp-lime reflects the company’s recognition that the same vapor-permeable, non-toxic properties valued in historic preservation are part of France’s future renovating and building new construction.

“It’s a trend in France to use less and less raw materials from the quarry and more biomaterials,” Pierre-Alexandre LePlante, Socli’s sales and export manager told HempBuild Mag. The new products also expand Socli’s product line into insulation, LePlante said.

“More and more hemp is available now. The hemp-lime market doubled in three years, so it’s easier to develop materials for hemp-lime,” he added.

*Lime plaster formulated for bio-based substrates is part of the new Socli product line. Photo courtesy of Pierre-Alexandre LaPlante*

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The Socli Hemp Products

All four products are manufactured in France and formulated to work with industrial hemp hurd or shives (the woody core of the hemp stalk) sourced under national certification programs such as Chanvrilys, a quality standard for construction-grade hemp.

The formulations comply with France’s Règles Professionnelles Construire en Chanvre, a set of technical guidelines similar in purpose to ASTM or IRC standards in the United States.

The new Socli Isolant Eco product removes cement from the formula for a lower-carbon option, also reducing embodied energy, the company said in a press release. The lime binders can be used for walls, partitions, and floors, either sprayed or hand-applied. The two binders create a thermal resistance equivalent to R 1.7-5.5 for 6-18 inch walls, the company said.

Socli Naturlys is a lime-hemp finishing plaster containing visible hemp hurd particles that create a textured, natural appearance suitable for hempcrete, rammed earth, or brick substrates. Socli Unilys is a lime-based vapor-open plaster.

*A hemp-lime school for trades workers is organized at the Socli factory in the Pyrenees mountains. Photo courtesy of Pierre-Alexandre LaPlante*

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Heidelberg’s Strategic Shift Toward Low-Carbon Materials

Heidelberg Materials, one of the world’s largest cement and aggregates producers, has identified hemp-lime and other bio-based solutions as part of its broader carbon reduction strategy. The company employs over 3,000 people in France and operates nearly 300 sites, including the Socli limeworks, which employs 38 people, LaPlante said.

The company also has developed an education program to teach contractors how to use the new materials with hemp.

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*A demonstration wall segment with the new Socli products. Photo courtesy of Pierre-Alexandre LaPlante*

Growing Global Interest in Hemp-Lime

The move by a major materials group like Heidelberg adds further legitimacy to hemp-lime as an emerging category in sustainable construction. In France, where hempcrete has been used for more than 25 years, the market has matured with codified standards, national labeling, and industrial-scale supply chains.