Clayfest 2020 - a successful dive into virtual conferencing

Thank you to all those who attended this years’ Clayfest at the end of November. Here is a word from our Chair, Louise Cooke, as a summary of the event and a word of thanks to all those involved.

Hello all, I would like to say it has been a real pleasure listening to all the conversations and presentations this weekend. EBUKI was established over 12 years ago and we have changed a lot over this time and our proud to see where we are now. What is unique about us is that we bring practitioners and academics, across new build and conservation work, generally so many different areas of the Earth Building community together and we challenge this false split between those that design and those that build. We are all thinking with tools in our hands and it is amazing to see us all together.

The highlight for EBUKI every year is Clayfest. This is normally a physical event, but like everyone this year has had to, we have adapted by moving online. We have in fact seen some really useful and remarkable impacts from that. Some brilliant conversations have occurred on the chat and in networking as well as on stage and the way in which people all over from UK, Europe and the World have been able to join in shows how we need to see these new situations which we have been lead into in 2020 as beneficial.

On Friday we had speakers from six different countries – England, South Korea, South Africa, Nicaragua, The USA and Egypt. The topics we know and love at EBUKI such as straw bale construction and advice on retrofit were brilliantly covered by Andy Horn and Peter Cox respectively, as well as a beautiful display of the use of Kersheef in Egypt by Fiona McKie.

Innovative uses of materials we are used to were shown by PhD student Scarlett Lee, using textiles in rammed Earth to reinforce against flooding and the use of microbiology in clay was expressed by Egyptian Alaa Emam.  It was fascinating to hear from Academic and Conservationist Ashley Lingle on their long, technical journey to discovering the best way to conserve 9,000 year old Earth Buildings in Turkey, she is doing incredible work! A theme of using Earth Construction training as more than just learning the skills involved, but empowering the people involved, came up multiple times, including the enthusing introduction to JUMP! By EBUKI CEO and Trustee Rowland Keable and Becky Little and the incredible work Helen Shears is doing empowering women in Nicaragua. We were honoured to welcome founders of the non-profit The Canelo Project and long-standing friends of EBUKI Bill and Athena Steen, telling us about their origins as Earth Builders in Mexico.

And of course, the wonderful live session from the CobBauge team at Plymouth University introduced by Tom Morton and presented by Jim Carfrae, Steve Goodhew and Kevin Owen, it was excellent to see the potential of still getting to see some real mud during a virtual Clayfest!

On Saturday we started the day with a hugely engaging chat with Building Sustainability Podcast host Jeffrey Hart and trainees Kit and Miki, on a two part podcast he carried out talking to trainees in the Earth Building world, we all hope this conversation has sparked further collaboration of trainees with EBUKI, which is what Clayfest is all about! Another lively conversation ensued after the eye-opening talk from Architect and Environmental Researcher Tom Woolley, alongside talks from environmental activists Lizzie Wynn and Tim Baddeley focusing on using up waste materials by incorporating them into buildings. We heard from some different professions including surveyor Roisin Nic Coil on adapting to the more digital world through digital surveying, Anthony Dente, a civil engineer who together with John Fordice has made an incredible step forwards in Earth Building having created the Cob Building Code in the USA.  Finally, we got back to our roots and enjoyed two wonderful talks on Retrofit, with Amy Hield and Tom Pollard both sharing their experiences of working with an inherited building and learning about our community through this. 

A huge thank you to all the speakers on both days, who the event wouldn’t have been so varied and interesting without. I also have to make a huge thank you to our amazing Execs, Project Officers, Volunteers and Trustees which keep EBUKI going. So much of our work is project specific so our funding is limited around these and we are reliant on the volunteering of our members. Volunteering fatigue is very real, but is addressed in events like this where we get together and remember what motivates us to give our time to this organisation!

Thank you to everyone who has attended and got involved so enthusiastically. And of course, an enormous thanks to Morgan Roberts for the organisation of the event, to the EBUKI committee members who helped host the event Rowland Keable, Becky Little, Sarah Roberts, Tom Morton, Louise Halestrap and Louise Cooke. I also need to thank Robin Brittain for his incredible tech support all weekend and to Emily Workman who works hard to make sure all of our accounts are in order as well.  From my experience, the more you put in to this organisation the more you get out of it, so please do keep involved, keep these networks active and, more so now than ever, we need to make sure we are reaching out and giving support to the individuals and the earth building community as a whole. 

Finally, EBUKI is a charity, so if you enjoyed Clayfest, please consider doing more. Please donate, please join, and please – let’s keep these wonderful conversations going! 

Written by Morgan Roberts based on Louise Cooke’s final words at Clayfest 2020.