Earth has been used as a building material for the last 10,000 years. It is an amazing and beautiful material that can be used in many different ways.
Earth is used as a building material all over the UK and you are probably not too far away from a building with earth in it – perhaps as walls, floors, ceilings, plasters or mortars.
Looking at the materials used for earth building ... earth, sand, water and people!
The UK has a rich and diverse legacy of building in earth. We commonly associate earth buildings with the vernacular buildings of the South-West but the reality is that earth is, and has been, a common building material throughout much of the UK making use of earth in a variety of different ways.
The archaeological and historical record suggests a long history of use of earth as a building material in the UK. Earth is now a key sustainable building material, reducing the carbon used in construction, promoting recycling of materials, and allowing for healthier, more breathable construction. The most common uses of earth for load and non-load bearing construction are:
- Placed earth, ‘cob’
- Rammed Earth
- Earth placed onto a supporting frame or armature (wattle and daub, clunch etc).
- Alongside shaped blocks, ‘mudbricks’
- Earth plasters
- Clay board
Earth building is locally distinctive varying according to soil type and tradition. Earth walls are associated with a rich and varied vocabulary throughout the UK. In addition earthen mortars, plasters and renders may be used in combination with other building materials such as limestone. Earth remained a common building material up until the 1850s when its use declined with the onset of dramatic social and economic change during the Victorian era. Despite this local traditions continued, and many have been revived throughout the 20th century, at the turn of the 20th century, and again at the end of both world wars, with a concern for affordable housing.
Earth is now a key sustainable building material, reducing the carbon used in construction, promoting recycling of materials, and allowing for healthier, more breathable construction. In the 21st century people are drawn to the environmental, sustainable and aesthetic qualities of earthen building materials.
The development of interest in earthen architecture must be seen within a much wider context of a worldwide decline in the utilisation of the materials and techniques associated with earthen architecture. UN Habitat still estimate 30% of the world’s population live in earth buildings, but the nature and type of settlement and land use has altered as a result of complex cultural, socio-economic and environmental changes through the 19th and 20th centuries. The modern construction industry that serves the other 70% of the world’s population is characterised by the utilisation of standardised, prefabricated elements, structural steel, fired brick and cement, and has emerged as a key economic power and political lobby. It is within this context of an overall worldwide decline and change in traditional construction, that earth building must be placed.
We hope these pages inspire you to use earth as a building material, with lots of information about the different ways you can build with earth, and the people in the UK who build with earth and are transforming the spaces we live, work and play in.
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