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.

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.

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.

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. 

An international gathering of hemp building experts will host its annual conference and expo in the United States for the first time at the Lower Sioux Indian Community in Morton, MN in October, 2025.

We’re sticking out our neck at HempBuild Mag and trying to predict what will happen in the wonderful and confusing hemp building industry  in the new year.

One Plant is a documentary that delves into hemp’s industrial, environmental, and health benefits. Broken down into chapters that focus on fiber, grain and flower, the film aims to address misconceptions, hoping to bring more attention and awareness to the plant. Jordan Berger, a CBD farmer, director and film producer shared with HempBuild Mag his personal journey from the film's inception to execution.

Multiple US hemp-building companies will make a big splash for around 25,000 visitors at one of the largest US construction sustainability expos and conferences later this month in Philadelphia, thanks to collaboration and the generosity of a hemp processing company and a hemp-building non-profit.

“Beyond my wildest dreams,” is how Cameron McIntosh described the fruits of his decision with his wife three years ago to license and distribute the French EREASY spray-applied hemp-lime application system. 

The US Army awarded a $1.9M grant to a Pennsylvania-based hemp-lime building company to partner with research institutions to study the fire resistance, thermal insulation value and carbon footprint of “hempcrete” in construction.

A 12-unit residential project in Massachusetts created from hemp-lime tip-up panels will be the largest hempcrete dwelling in the United States when it begins construction this fall.

Hemp-lime insulation has passed US tests for thermal resistance (R-Value), performing the necessary testing required by the Federal Trade Commission to advertise the insulative value of a material.

We’d like to introduce you to three new hempcrete builds in Texas, Colorado and Michigan. All three projects began, or were completed, in 2022 and the builders/subcontractors are already starting new projects.

The small-but-mighty US Hemp Building Association has had an outsized impact on the emerging hemp building industry in the United States after only three years in existence.

Hemp building workshops are being hosted around the world in 2022. Here are a few upcoming events:

Hemp construction techniques for hemp insulation using spray, block and cast-in-place will be discussed by international and U.S. experts in Denver at the NoCo8 Hemp Expo in March, organizers announced.

Attendees at the U.S. Hemp Building Summit in Austin, Texas, last month got a sneak peek of some of the new products and services in the works in the hemp building and construction world for 2022.

A hempcrete residential remodel of a blighted balloon-frame house in New Castle, PA is providing proof-of-concept for local farmers that there exists a realistic outlet for fiber industrial hemp in Pennsylvania.

Three pioneering companies in the emerging U.S. hemp-building industry will collaborate this spring on two projects that will use multiple hemp building techniques.