Insulating Your Building

Insulating Plant-Based Concretes in New Construction and Renovation

For over 20 years, Saint Astier has been working on developing bio-based solutions to meet regulatory and environmental requirements, but above all to improve living comfort in our homes and satisfy market expectations. This approach actively contributes to the socio-economic development of territories. Bio-based materials (wood, hemp, rapeseed, miscanthus, straw, flax, reed…) and geo-sourced materials (e.g., raw earth/dry stone) offer numerous advantages, including high-performance insulating properties. They are thus precisely able to address the challenge of improving the environmental performance of private and public buildings.

When these materials are local and minimally processed, they have a low environmental footprint. Co-products from reuse or waste recovery (e.g., recycled aggregates, crushed bricks…) can also be a very interesting alternative solution. Our territory is currently experiencing a transformation in the act of building by integrating decarbonized and sustainable solutions.

What solutions are available today?

Hemp represents the main aggregate used in current plant-based concretes.Its use is governed by Professional Rules and by technical support from the Saint-Astier team, which guarantee the quality and durability of the works (of the result). Saint-Astier’s specific support is guided by a transversal vision of the act of building: from the impact of material production to the expectations of project owners in terms of environmental footprint and thermal performance (including summer comfort!).

Performance that meets expectations :

In addition to thermal resistance, the hygrothermal behavior of hemp gives it excellent results in summer comfort (strong phase shift and excellent thermal absorption…). Moreover, its alveolar structure maintained in concrete applications allows for excellent acoustic comfort.

Regional plant-based concretes (e.g., rice husks in Camargue or miscanthus)are currently solutions implemented locally, which could quickly (or even soon) be deployed more widely across the territory. They are also an answer for building and renovating our habitats, with interesting performances.

Framed technical applications to guarantee insurability and living comfort

The RT 2012 Regulation currently in force and the RE 2020 (with implementation in January 2022) is being finalized and will display new ambitions in terms of energy consumption and carbon footprint. In the meantime, these hemp concrete applications are governed by the Professional Rules of Hemp Construction ;

Since its creation in 1998, the association “Construire en Chanvre” has been working to secure hemp concrete solutions. To this end, the association has set up a normative and regulatory framework that allows all professionals to build with hemp while being insured.

These Professional Rules for Execution and Work in Hemp Concrete constitute the first and to date the only reference text concerning the use of hemp concretes apart from prefabricated blocks.

Training in the implementation of bio-based solutions to stand out and contribute to the implementation of these sustainable solutions :

SAINT-ASTIER offers the industry training in the application of hemp concretes through a qualifying training. The duration of the training is between 2 and 3 days and is carried out at our site in Saint-Astier, Dordogne (24).

The training is divided into theory, practice, and discovery of the lime kiln operator’s know-how, illustrated by a visit to the limestone quarries nearly 20 meters underground.

The training center is QUALIOPI certified and professional training can be covered by collecting organizations (e.g., CONSTRUCTYS / FAFCEA…)..

The objectives are multiple :

Strengthen theoretical knowledge on lime and hemp materials, their uses and common applications,
Present the reference texts concerning the use of hemp concretes and apply these principles in real site conditions.
Practical implementation of hemp concretes respecting Professional Rules.

For more information, contact Sophie at formation@saint-astier.com