MISSION

Renewables

The Segal Approach

HBC has experience in the areas of wood, straw bale, thatch, living roofs and natural plaster finishes. Our emphasis is on instructing people to make a post and beam house that could integrate any of the above as well. We favour a technique known as the Segal Approach after Walter Segal, the architect who devised it. It is based on traditional timber frame methods of building brought up to date to take advantage of modern materials. This method has been designed to be really user friendly and enables anyone, even those with no previous building experience, to build.

A Segal building is designed using a modular grid based on the standard sizes of materials as buildersí merchants supply them. It uses a dry form of construction (no bricklaying, concrete or plaster) and utilises a series of timber frames erected on simple foundations. The result is a lightweight, adaptable, ecologically sound building individually designed to the requirements of the self-builder within normal building and planning controls. A typical build time of 3 weeks is usual and can be cut further depending on the quantity and skill sets of your helper workforce.

Each building is made up of a series of timber frames, made on site, which take the structural load. These are hoisted up to a vertical position and their weight is enough to hold the house secure on concrete pad foundations dug at existing ground levels. The resultant buildings sit above the ground and this removes the need to level sites and destroy existing trees and shrubs. This building method enables good use to be made of steeply sloping and poor quality sites that may be less expensive than those normally available for building. It also allows buildings to be built around the landscape rather than being imposed on it so that they blend with the environment.

Roof before Walls!
Once the frames are erected, the roof can be put on, the floors added, the services installed and the walls made up and placed in position. In contrast to more conventional methods of construction, this "traditional" method enables the roof to be put on at a very early stage of the building programme. This means that builders are sheltered from the very worst of the weather for most of the time they are building with the result that they are likely to lose less time due to bad weather.

Additional Comfort!

Several energy efficient methods are also utilised to maximise the comfort of the occupants living in a post and beam house. We usually recommend installing mechanical ventilation that draws out moist air and provides fresh air at a controlled rate. Heat is recovered from expelled air, and this is topped-up when required to ensure comfort. All rooms should have adequate ventilation to avoid stale air and condensation, which means there is no need to open windows, providing better sound insulation against external noise.

Water use is reduced by using water-saving fittings (including half-flush toilets, spray taps and showers) and also by collecting rainwater from the roofs for use in flushing toilets. Both measures will save the occupants money, save water and reduce the need for rainwater drainage.

Our recommended designs always include a sunspace (conservatory) that should face south, allowing heat from the sun in the cold months to be trapped and dispersed slowly over the night to ensure a constant warm temperature. In summertime the sunspace draws heat from the house to keep it cool, and at almost any time of the year it is a pleasant extension to the living room.

The lightweight nature of the construction enables genders of all ages and abilities to build. They can choose to do this as a group or individually, co-operating as and when they need or wish to. Thus all the members of a group gets to know one another during both the pre-site and the building stage, learning each others strengths and weaknesses. The group thus grows into a stable community with the resultant long-term benefits. This also creates skills and self-confidence that should not be underestimated in the search for jobs.