Durham Dales

After 40 years living largely in the South East of England, artist Sarah is returning to her roots in the North East with towering ambitions for an exposed, three-acre plot she’s bought at auction in the Durham Dales. She wants to create a radical home and ‘creative hub’ combined, including a studio and gallery for displaying and selling art. Despite a relatively modest budget of £330,000, Sarah is going to build with a super sustainable yet still relatively unknown and hard to predict material – hempcrete. Made from the stem of the hemp plant, cannabis sativa, mixed with lime and water, the hempcrete will form all the walls. Left exposed throughout the interior, the hempcrete will provide a dramatic earthy look but relies on the building process going perfectly.

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Just a few months into Sarah’s 8-month schedule, her plan to move in before winter is scuppered as her inexperience as a project manager starts to show. With material costs going through the roof, and her budget doing likewise, selling her one-bed holiday cottage looks like the only way to keep building. As the critical hemp process gets going, and proves increasingly tortuous and unpredictable, the

success of Sarah’s project hangs in the balance…