EXPECTED RESULT 2

BROCHURE OF DATABASE OF STRAWBALE BUILDING PRACTICE IN EUROPE.

2.1 INTRODUCTION

2.2 CREATING THE DATA BASE: TYPE OF DATA

2.3 USING THE DATA BASE: VISUALIZATION OF DATA

2.4 TOOLS FOR COLLECTING DATA : - Google docs structure - Strawbale network mail list - Best Building Practice data sheet - Interviews among partners

2.5 VISUALIZATION OF RESULTS - Summary of google questionnaire results - Map of Buildings in Europe 2.6 EVALUATION OF RESULTS - Google docs data - Maps and Codes - What we couldn't do and would wish to do next

2.7 DOCUMENTATION - link to google docs questionnaire to fill - pdf questionnaire to print - pdf complete data on questionnaire v.1 30.5.2010 - pdf complete data on questionnaire v.2 30.9.2010

EXPECTED RESULT 2

BROCHURE OF DATABASE OF STRAWBALE BUILDING PRACTICE IN EUROPE.

2.1 INTRODUCTION

The collection of the data should be a reference and tool for the implementation of the curricula in each country and the base for the selection of the Best European Building Practice to be evaluated and presented in the web as a result of the entire Leonardo Project.

The process of establishing how to collect data and the elaboration of results was slower and more complex that the initial idea.

GROUP CODES

GROUP TRAINING

GROUP SURVEY

SET UP WORK

SET UP WORK

WRITING INPUT

INP

UT

CONTINUOS FEEDBACK

CO

NT

INU

OS

Initial proposition of frame work for database results- 2nd meeting Barcelona 2010

In order to improve and propose a European teaching method and a European guideline for Good practice in Strawbale building we considered of primary importance to get to know better the state of actual reality of each partners country and all other countries members of the european strawbale network.

We planned to create a database on:- people involved in strawbale building from all European Countries, - existing teaching methods and curricula for strawbale building, - projects finished or under construction in all the European Countries, - different approaches to strawbale building technology practised in each European country, - approaches to natural building by National Building Regulations of each European country.

Suggested FRAME FOR THE SURVEY

CODES

TRAINING

PEOPLE1) Map (VISUAL) of People and Organisations existng in each Partners Country (and Countries of Networkers List made at ESBG)2) Data on individual and organization's experiences and activities (Google Docs)

1) Map (Visual) of Process of approval for a strawbale building and approval for straw as a building material 2) Data on legal/illigal buildings built by type of counstruction, builder, owner (google docs)3) List Explicit reference to barriers and "helpers" to build legally

1) Map (Visual) of Existing Training Organizations and Professionals with links with official and no-official organization2) Data on curricula information and matterials used and available sorted by different tchniques (google docs)3) List Explicit reference to barriers and "helpers" to official integration in ECS system4) List of building used or to be used as references for building techinques for each country

Initial proposition of frame work for expected database results- 2nd meeting Barcelona 2010

2.2 CREATING THE DATABASE: TYPE OF DATA

FIRST STEPS TOWARD DATABASE: TYPES OF DATA AND HOW TO ORGANIZE IT ?

We planned to collect data on: People, Codes and Training Programs that are active in the differenet European Countries.

We considered important in order to address the barriers to strawbuilding construction to know:

- who are the people involved in the promotion and diffusion of knowledge on strawbale building construction in the european strawbale network . This data will allow the Leonardo group to have a defined and measureble feedback on the result of the project by creating a "community" of collaborators

-

Type of map for Map: People-Training Visualisation of data

In This Map Are Organizations and People integrated in the Project and where the person or organization si located (entreprises or asociation that belongs to) and all the people or projects or organizations that are involved directly with the persons that are participants.

This Kind of map is very useful because gives an inmediate idea of trends and potencialities....see touchgraph software

To make this kind of map a quiet big amount of information is gathered so we suggest to make this map only for the partners countries. The further devellopement of networking chart can be assured by the IEE funding.

The data that are stored within this map are "too heavy and tricky" to be asked in a "google docs" questionaire so the draft of the mapa will be sketch up in bilaterla meetings.

see below more pictures of networking charts:touchgraph - Imágenes de Google

2.3 USING THE DATABASE: VISUALISATION OF THE DATA

Initial suggestions for expected database results- 2nd meeting Barcelona 2010

Type of Map for Code-Process a suggestion Notes on map

This Map is just Scheme/draft...but the idea is to keep a simple diagram of process of approval of a building in each partner Country. Is simple but gives information about:-People with legal Responsability in process-Level of codes and authorities involved - People and Institutions that need to be "educated"

The map is to be integrated with more and more "clouds" of opinions and synthesis of tricks and milestones made by professionals with experiencies.

This Map with all the inside "clouds" of commentary is again to be made in bilateral meetings do to the fact that tracking information on this trough google docs is too heavy and tricky.

The google docs we propose to be use to ask data on numbers of legal houses...regions involveds...systems approved etc etc...

Planning Permission

AreaLocal+ Regional+Nacional Code

URBAN RURALExtra Code LandscapeSewege and Energy

St i l l s t r o n g

discretionality and great variety of initial cond i t ions . Grea t "tradition" of illegal

construction

Owner Architect

Local Architect's Association + Local Governement

Owner Architect

Building Permit

Architect Ass+National Building Code: admits EU test on material if made in authorised laboratory

Owner Architect

Insurance For Architect-T.Architect-Owner-Builder

T.Architect

Builder

ECS Credits + Old System

To Live To Sell Extra Control ETA Necessary or National ETA necessary

Building Regional Control on Final Built Building

Initial proposition of frame work for expected database results- 2nd meeting Barcelona 2010

2.4 TOOLS FOR COLLECTING DATA

Google Docs

Dear strawbale builders in EuropeThis is a call to fill out a questionnaire about SB in Europe!

As you maybe already know, some countries are working together as partners in a European funding programme titled "European Learning Partnership for Strawbale Building". The partners of this Leonardo project are: Belgium, France, Germany, Slovakia, Spain and UK as a silent partner.

In this mail we want to present you a questionnaire that we have developed to collect general data on SB in Europe with thefollowing themes:

1 people: personal profile of you as SB networker2 organizations: national data of the organization, in which you are active3 training activities4 projects: national techniques of strawbale buildings 5 barriers to legal SBB construction

The results of this questionnaire will help us to continue with other important tasks in our Leonardo project - to develop European training units and European building regulations. We also will use the analysis of the results (= your SB experience) in a next Leonardo project, for which we are in the middle of application with 12 European countries - we have of course good hope that the funding will be granted for another 2 years of cooperation.

As participants of our questionnaire we are now addressing you, a member of the European mailing list of SB networkers. Here is the link to the questionnaire:

So, please, fill out the 50 questions and spend about 30-40 minutes of your important time for this SB questionnaire!Your experience with SB, your opinion and vision will help us to continue with the useful work of the Leonardo project.

You all will receive a documentation of the results. During the ESBG 2011 some of the Leonardo partners will represent aims, progress and results of this current Leonardo project, to share our work with the European SB community.

Thank you very much!Strawgreetings of all Leonardo-partnersValentina - SpainSissy, Dirk, Burkard and Dittmar - GermanyZuzana and Boris - SlovakiaCédric, Dirk and Claude - FranceBee (and Kuba in the beginning) - UKGigi and Peter - Belgium  

2.6 EVALUATION OF RESULTS„

Evaluation of Leonordo questionnaire for strawbale buildings“ 03.10.2010 in Carcassonne

Basic resumee (original google docs summary has 25 pages. link here)37 networkers of European SB organizations got the link to fill out the questionnaire.It was answered by 13 people, while 2 of them were not on the list. So it was 1/3 of the possible answers that came back. One answer was not usable because of some mistake in the program. The answers came from 7 men and 5 women, while one has answered twice, once as networker, once as owner of a business. The answers all came within the first week after the questionnaire was edited.

We restructered the questionnaire to make it clearer, especially we tried to avoid to have it answered twice by the same person. We structered the personal part with questions to personal enterprises and the network part for SB organisations, that could be skipped if not appropriate. This was added in the introduction to make it clearer.

The options other was mostly eliminated, and replaced by more alternative options, since it is complicated to evaluate and it gives a wrong percentage in the overview.

PEOPLE: PERSONAL PROFILEThis information is Just to Know about the person that is filling out the questionaire... your data will not be transfered to anybody and your opinion will be treated without giving relevance to your who you are.

1.2 Which SB organization do you represent?The majority of the organizations are none governamental (over 60%) and 70 % of the answering persons where board members, some are active members (31%) or in charge of a special eara of activity (23%), only one was employed (8%)

1.5 What is your educational background?60 % have a unviversity degree/ 25 % are craftspeople and as many are self taught builders

1.6 What is your profession/job now?33% are architects and engeneers/ 40 % are teachers and trainers/ 25 % are business owners/ 17% are craftsmen and equaly 17 % are employed by their association

1.7 What is your role in strawbale building ?The main activities are networking, organising events (70%), sharing experience and giving lectures (62%) teaching and training and promoting (54%) followed by designing, doing research and writing books and articlesAll answering people where involved in different activities

1.8 What would help to empower your role?The ranking of the answers where as follows: test and research, then share informations, support of local authorities and at last practical training

1.9 In how many SB buildings have you been professionaly involved?Most where involved in about 1-5 building projects, only 2 had more then 20 projects, 2 had not been professionally involved with SB yet

1.10 What do you value most about SB Building?Top ranking was healthy building and energy efficiency (low CO2), then use of local rexssources and empowerment of people, then costs and benefits, followed by: people envolved and at last aesthetic quality

1.11 When did you hear of strawbale building and started to get "in touch" with this building technique?Longest experince was since 1989, 5 heard of SB only within the last 3 years

1.12 What were important milestones in your awareness/knowledge of SB building?Primary milestones where conferences, events and informations on internet (67%), then some kind of journey or visit in other country and print media(50%), trainer or teacher and realized building (33%) or workshop (25%), then architects and friends (17%), the least where named craftspeople and officials of instituitions

1.13 In which language do you prefer to receive your knowledge and information on SB building ?Mostly English media and then informations in national language

1.14 In your experience, which source of information is/was most valuable in solving practical problems?Mostl valuable was the professional contact with experienced people and practical experience on building site/ then documents on internet, training courses and at last printed media

1.15 In your experience, which source of information is easiest to access?Easiest to access where documents on internet and printed media, only then it was personal contact and training courses, although these where named the most valuable ones in 1.14!!!

1.16 In which techniques are you most interested?More then one answer was possible: infill techniques, loadbearing and prefabrication where

named almost in equal number

PEOPLE: NATIONAL DATAThis part of the questionaire has the aim to understand the structure of SB national networks

2.1 In which type of network or SB organization are you participating in?Many are in more then one network structure/ most in European, National and Global mailing list and also in a national SB organization (70%), some are also in a National or European working group (45%), only 15% are also in a regional SB organization

2.3 What is the formal structure of your network or organization?Most of all are part of a National network or National association

2.4 What is the profile of the majority of the members of your network or organization?Mostly the members are architects and engeneers and selfbuilders (50%), then craftsmen and house owners (25%), at last there are also a companies mentioned (6%)

2.5 How many official members are part of your network or organization?Most organizations have more then 150 members, (but only 5 answered this question)

2.6 How many interested people does your network or organization reach regulary per year?The people reached by the organization are always higher then the number of members100 - 500 (33%), 500 – 1000 (17%), more then 1000 (25%)

2.7 Does your network or organization have a person or group specially dedicated to funding?50% answered with no, 33% answered with yes,

2.8 What kind of funding do you have for your network or organization?Most organizations are financed by member fees (46%), 23 % have fundings of national government or European Institutions, but there where 38% with no fundings at all and there are no regional or local government fundings

2.9 Choose the most valuable activities of your national network or organization77% empowering straw bale building practice, and then with 57% good information and good human relations, and with 46% support of professional work, 31 % A way to reach goals far beyond private reach, 23 % mementioned good professional relations/ We added organizing events and conferences

2.10 In your opinion, what does your network need to improve?No one answered that there is no need of improvement, that meens that there is a need to improveThe most improvement was wanted in the involvement of members (83%), but only 33% wanted better organizational structures/ 50 % wanted more funding, 42 % need improvement on actual projects and activities, 25 % need better human relations

2.11 Who makes the decisions in the network or association?Most decisions are made by board members (62%), and by general assembly (33%)Maybe that is why involvemnt of members needs to be improved ? (2.10)

2.12 Which institutions collaborate with the network?Most answers where no collaboration with institutions (46%), followed by Universities (31%) and National government and technical professional associations (23%), regional government, European institutions and building certification institutions reached 15 %

There is a gap between collaboration and funding, the collaborating organizations seem to get themselves some of the funding money

2.13 Which institutions would you like to collaborate with?There is a great openess to collaboations Almost all would like to collaborate with European Institutions and with Universities (83%), there is great interest on European work and collaborationLocal (33%), regional (42%) and national (50%) government are also welcome (fundings are here more difficult to get), there is also interest to collaborate with technical professional associations (58%), building certification institutions (42%), and schools (33%)

Due to the great interest we added a question about European exchange

TRAINING: ACTIVITIESThis part of the questionaire has the aim of gathering information about existing training activities

3.1 a In which training activities is your organization involved?Lectures and conferences are the main activities (67%), then workshops and demonstrations (58%), than courses (42%), that means there is more theory then praxis

3.1 b In which training activities are you involved?On personal level it is lectures, conferences and workshops (70%), then courses (50%) and demonstrations (40%)

3.1 c Please give, if possible, contact data of 3 people or institutions that you know that are giving courses or SB training activities in your country7 persons gave names of organisations and trainers

3.2 What are the target groups for your SB training activities?Main target groups are arhitects, craftspeople and selfbuilders (90%), students (80%),and courious people (60%) but only very few for trainers (20%)

3.3 Is your SB training program included in a formal learning program?Nobody gives training acitivities in a formal learning program!!

3.5 What kind of certificate do you give?Mostly there is no cerfiticate (63%), some give certificate of attendance (38%) and no one gives cerficate of credits

3.6 Where do you give your course?Courses are given mostly on building site or own facility (67%9, some in public facility (22%) only one in official training center (11%)

3.7 In how many training activities are you involved per year?This question was answered by only one person

3.8 How long do your training activities last?Mostly training acitivities take one weekend (78%), one day (44%), 5 days or a few hours (33%), more then 5 days (11%) and divided into several blocks (22%)

3.9 How much theory is involved in your training activity?There is always some theory, about 25% to 50%, it is never without theory but also never only theory

3.10 What strawbale building technique do you teach?All are teaching infill systems, some are teaching loadbearing systems, but no one only load bearing

3.11 Which kind of material do you use in theory training?All are using power point (100%), some use printed media and fotos

(67%9 and some show videos (44%)

3.12 What are you doing in your practical training program?Most work on real building construction (67%), then there are demonstrations or small practice units (56%) and visits of building sites (56%), some are building prototyp units (44%)

3.13 What would help to develop your training program in the future?Tools and educational material was named first as essential and important (78%), then fundings, networking with other trainers, promotion and physical structure (rooms), official certification is valuable but not neccessary

3.14 Who is giving support to your training activity?Mostly no support and support from other associations (33%), some regional and national institutions (13%), there was no support from EU, from universities or local instituitons for training activities

PROJECTS: NATIONAL SB BUILDING DATAHere we want to find out general information about SB building in your country.

4.1 Which techniques are used in your country? Post and beam and frame structures (with permissions 77%), Loadbearing is mostly possible, with permission (50%) and without permission (33%), Greb (without permission) and CUT are mostly unknown and only once used, the same is with hybrid systems, prefabrication was always named with permission (55%), 33% did not know and 17% did not use prefabrication

4.2 Do you have in your country a database of realized SB buildings and involved people ?Some have database of realized buildings and buildings in process (more then 65%), almost as many for craftspeople and architects, for linklists and internet ressources, database of owners and networkpartners are mostly in process

4.3 How many SBBuildings have been built or are under construction in your country?Most countries have about 100 to 500 buildings in SB

4.4 What type of SB building do you have in your country?Private house named mostly with more then 60%, small garden houses rank between 10% and 60%, public houses and storage or warehouses are mostly under 10%

4.5 How many of the buildings have been built with legal permission?Infill construction more then 60%, load bearing mostly less than 10% and twice more then 60%

4.6 What is oficially required to get a permission to build a strawbale house?Tests results (75%) are mostly needed and engeneer or technical professionals (67%) or architect (58%), national approval for material (42%) or for building system (33%), sometimes references to other SBB (33%), insurances for architect, building company, selfbuilder and for building (~ 30%), European building code was named only once

4.7 Who is responsible for the building construction and for how long?There where only 5 answers, named mostly 5-15 years responsibility for architects, engeneers and building companies, craftspeople are responsible for a shorter period, owners and authorities are mostly not responsibleThis question was not helpfull, since the issue is too complex, should need more differentiation

PROJECT: ADDRESSING BARRIERS TO SB CONSTRUCTIONThis part of the questionaire has the aim to understand what can help most to spread SB building construction

5.1 What would improve the number of LEGAL SB buildings in your country?National guidelines and national codes and tests are essential (70%), research, political support and certified training are effective and often essential, European guidelines and ETA are not so essential but helpfull, marketing, lobby, networking and education of building officials ranked mostly as effective but not essential

5.2 How easy is it to get a permission to build a strawbale building?Infill construction is easy and very easy, load bearing is mostly difficult and almost impossible, only sometimes it is easy

5.3 How easy is it to get a permission to build a strawbale building?Minor problems solved by having a project authorized by engineer and architect who takes the responsibility (5)There are major problems associated with obtaining a permission for loadbearing strawbale structures making it impossible to build them (4)Minor problems using references to existing codes/tests/research from other countries (2)There is no problem associated with obtaining a permission for loadbearing strawbale structures (2)