BS18 - Mud, the ultimate building material - Becky Little

This week we have a conversation with mud mason, Becky Little from Rebearth. 

"Rebearth is a Scottish company founded by mud mason Becky Little. We specialise in building, art and education using raw earth and natural materials.
We have 25 years of experience in earth building techniques including mudwall (cob),  wattle and daub, light clay and hemp, turf building, soft capping, clay plasters, earth sculpture and decoration.
By learning from the past and working with nature, we celebrate and develop the skills and traditions of earth building."
Building with mud has got to be the most sustainable way to create a home. In terms of embodied carbon, it's got to be one of the lowest materials available. In terms of performance it's actually one of the best performing materials with regards to moisture buffering, heat buffering and removal of VOCs from the air.
I think the biggest issue, is that mud has an image problem! People see it as medieval, and peasant technology that we (with all our technological advances) have moved on from and bettered. But the truth is we haven't... we have created materials that are faster or cheaper to build with, but not that are good for human health or that of the planet.

Massive thanks to Becky for the conversation - Enjoy the episode!

Becky Little Podcast Links
Rebearth
Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB)
Historic Scotland
Kevin McCabe (Cob Builder)
Kevin McCabe - Grand designs house
Article on CO2 emissions of cement production 
Cobbauge (cob research project)
Earth Building UK and Ireland
Ianto Evans Book - Hand Sculpted House
Cob Cottage Company
Thomas Hoblyn (Chelsea flower show garden designer)
The Dubai Majlis Garden (Chelsea flower show garden)
Guy Valentine (Clay plasterer)
Natural Homes (Website and facebook group)
Simple Shelters Fife