The Buildings

Main Building

The main building was completed in 1994. It was designed to be as environmentally responsible as possible.

Bishops Wood main building

• Energy efficient
• Energy monitoring
• Lights turn off when rooms not occupied
• Audio-stats turn heating off when rooms empty
• Water conservation
• Grey water system
• Reed bed sewage treatment
• Wood from renewable and sustainable sources when possible
• Organic paints and stains
• Recycled bricks
• Passive solar cooling
• Solar heated water
• Recycled paper insulation in walls
• Rockwool insulation in roof
• Breathing walls
• Turf roofs
• Cedar shingle roof
• Linoleum flooring

See a virtual tour of the main building

Straw Bale Building

• The design was by Neil Lewis, a local architect with a strong interest in low impact buildings.
• The foundations are old car tyres, filled with rammed earth and lain on a trench filled with gravel.
• The bales are pegged with hazel rods each pair passing through four courses of bales.
• The structure is stabilised with a roof plate made of 3"x4" joists and "sterling board".
• The roof is made of aluminium profile sheet on factory made trusses. The north slope is at an angle of 15 degrees and will eventually be covered with a turf roof.
• The roof is not as sustainable as we would wish but time was of the essence in order to protect the bales from rain.
• To make this light-weight we will use a thin layer of compost with water retaining granules and cover with house-leeks (Sempervivum) and stone-crops (Sedum).
• The south aspect roof has 4 photovoltaic panels, each generating 75 watts, along with a 300 watt wind generator these keep an array of batteries charged.
• The building is lit by 12 volt fluorescent tubes and halogen bulbs.
• The batteries also power an inverter which provides 240 volts to supply 2 fluorescent lights and power sockets from which we can run computers, TVs etc.
• The renewable energy system was installed by Steve Wade of "Wind and Sun".
• Light is also provided by sun-pipes, reflective lined 13" diameter pipes which each provide the equivalent of 100 watts of light on a dull day.

The straw bale walls were covered with traditional lime render, a mixture of slaked lime and sand, bound with chopped straw and yak hair! The first coat was applied by participants on a course run by "The traditional lime company". The second coat was applied by volunteers led by Jim Wallis of "ABC Buildings", himself a builder of several straw-bale buildings.

The building is not only a useful experiment in low-impact technology, it also provides a venue for teaching about renewable energy. It forms the hub of a renewable energy trail and provides a useful space for groups to gather for such programmes as Three Little Pigs (well we have a house of wood and a house of straw so what do you expect), Commander Energy and Earth Caretakers. It also provides a useful shelter for groups working in the nearby garden.

The Saxon Hall

The structure of the building was informed by the archaeological evidence from West Stow and the experimental reconstruction carried out there. However as our building progressed, various techniques were tried in order to gain an insight into how the Saxons might have worked with the materials and tools available to them.

• The frame was constructed from green oak.
• The oak tree trunks were hewn with axes to make square beams.
• As the tree trunks dried out the wood became hard as iron and progressively more difficult to hew.
• Visiting classes helped to haul the roof beams into place.
• The walls were clad with oak boards on three sides of the building.
• Several methods of fixing the boards were tried.
• The wall boards were made by splitting oak tree trunks with wooden wedges.
• The excavation at West Stow revealed that there were no corner posts.
• A range of techniques were tried to construct the corners of the building.
• The East side of the building is clad with wattle and daub.
• Visiting classes helped with the daub.
• Various mixtures of daub were tried, each with clay, with and without straw and cow manure. We will record which mixtures last the longest.
• The floor is constructed of thick oak planks laid on beams which rest on packed earth.
• The roof is made of coppice poles lashed into place and thatched with wheat straw.
• The building was officially opened in June 2001 by Phil Harding of Channel 4's "Time Team".

Coppice Craft Store

This amazing building is a project carried out by young people on the Vocational Inclusion Programme attending the BOSS (Building on Sustainable Skills) course at Bishops Wood.

We cherish the memory of the late Philip Green who shared with the group his skills as a brick-layer.

Sustainable Features

• Logs from our site with cob (soil from the foundations, straw and hydrated lime)
• Innovative low weight high insulation walls of straw and mud dug from the foundations of the building
• Walls rendered with hydrated lime mixed with clay soil from site
• Front wall and door constructed from oak grown and milled on site
• Hand split sweet chestnut shingles used on roof
• Constructed by young people learning construction skills for a sustainable future