On a chilly Pacific Redwoods morning in April, Joann Kerns, 68, was perched on her garage roof in Eureka, CA filming a crane installing the first 2,000 lb. wall panel for her new hempcrete ADU (accessory dwelling unit) when the operation took a surprising turn.

On Friday, July 11, Austinites will gather to celebrate a historic step toward sustainable construction with a special event marking the city’s adoption of hemp-lime—commonly known as “hempcrete”—into the local building code. The celebration, hosted at the Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems (CMPBS) from 6:30–8:30 p.m., will also launch a landmark new book, Hempsteads: Architectural Details for Hemp-Lime Construction by hemp building pioneer Timothy Callahan of Asheville, NC.

German hempcrete builders will welcome international hempcrete designers, builders and suppliers at a free open house event in June in a cutting-edge tech startup hub.

Currently Colorado’s largest planned hempcrete project, the Kosmos Stargazing Resort, has welcomed its first guests in a 1,200 sq. ft. solar-powered off-grid hemp-lime (hempcrete) villa in the San Luis Valley.

A new book of architectural details for hemp-lime construction will be published in May, written by a pioneering US hempcrete builder who helped co-author the hemp-lime appendix published for the first time in the 2024 International Residential Codes.

The city of Austin, TX on April 10  officially adopted hempline (hempcrete) in the city’s Building Technical Codes as an innovative building material to be used in local construction. 

Australian researchers at University of Technology, Sydney are working with experienced hempcrete builders to develop a hemp-based structural panel with a geopolymer binder that they say is up to four times stronger than traditional hempcrete.

A hemp block and hemp-lime insulation workshop held in Tucson, AZ last week marks the beginning of a summer project renovating an environmental learning center for area students.

NoCo has been described as the "hemp chamber of commerce" due to its role in bringing together industry representatives from every sector, including a strong support for hemp-based construction

The consortium formed by the organizations Rawblox, Hempire UA e OpenDoorUkraine.NL has received €4 million in funding to build over 400 sustainable homes in Ukraine using straw and hemp-based technologies to support rural families affected by the war.

A Chicago-based women-owned construction company is insulating one of the largest projects in Chicago so far with hemp building materials.

Homeowners returning to their burned-out homes in southern California are facing the painful consequences of the US construction industry’s reliance on cheap plastics and petroleum-based building materials: Not only are these materials easily combusted in a wildfire, but they leave behind a toxic soup that has polluted waterways and poisoned air quality.

As publishers of HempBuildMag.com, we are excited to bring a new and updated edition of the Hemp Building Directory for 2025. 

We are watching the industry grow and expand in this  comprehensive directory of the international hemp building industry in 2025. Our listings cover more than 700 unique companies and experts in 32 different countries in 26 categories.

Hemp-lime construction expanded further into the national spotlight this week when a California film festival awarded first prize to a short documentary featuring the Morton, MN-based Lower Sioux hempcrete building team.

The largest hemp project in the United States consisting of 12 duplex units in Newburyport, MA will open to residents next month. Builder David Hall and architect Keith Moskow of Hall and Moskow Corporation have been working since 2023 on the Hillside Center for Sustainable Living, an attainably-priced multi-family housing development, from their own design of hempcrete over steel frame panels. The new hempcrete development  will welcome its first residents on February 15.

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.

Two hospitalized members of the hemp building community have received support from members of the industry through GoFundMe donations.

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.

Hemp-lime innovators Wittenberg, WI-based Sativa Building Systems announced that the company has been awarded $1.9 million in a SBIR Phase II contract from the US Army. The two-year contract will focus on developing a bio-based insulation system using hemp hurd and mycelium, founder Zachery Popp told HempBuild Mag.

A November gathering of scientists and researchers meeting in Malaysia shows how opportunities from the hemp plant – both for medicinal and industrial uses such as building materials – is spreading through Asia and gathering momentum worldwide.