The aim of the exercise was to develop a substrate system using hemp stalks as laths & to evaluate its performance against other mainstream natural construction techniques such as timber laths & wood fibre panels. All 3 test panels received hemp lime plaster but retain an non rendered vision panel to observe the build-up within. The construction process and materials used was carefully documented and an embodied carbon calculation was done evaluating the panels against each other.

As this is a novel endeavour, it was preceded by the conceptual planning of the binding and mounting of stalks to perform as laths. As with each design stage, background studies of techniques, similar materials, etc were carried out & possible design solutions were thereby developed. To select the most appropriate solution for implementation on a larger scale, smaller prototypes were developed to test the behaviour of the talks using different techniques. The process, strengths, weaknesses, and the outcome were documented for record.