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Green Schools Initiative.

Transforming Education Centre with Rammed Earth and Hemcrete

Green Schools Initiative.

Green Schools Initiative.

Green Schools Initiative.

Project Team

Project Value

Additional Information

Oct 23, 2025

The Wales Institute for Sustainable Education (WISE)

The Wales Institute of Sustainable Education (WISE) at the Centre for Alternative Technology in Snowdonia (2010) is a showcase for near-zero-carbon green building standards. The project utilized structural materials with extremely low embodied energy, including FSC-certified timber for the building frame, rammed earth for the central load-bearing walls, and Hemcrete for non-load-bearing partitions.

Hero Materials

FSC-Certified Timber: Used as the main structural framework (glulam), providing a strong, renewable, and certified-sustainable structural solution.

Hemcrete: Used for non-load-bearing walls; it's significant for achieving a negative embodied carbon footprint as it sequesters CO2 during its manufacture.

Rammed Earth: Used for the central, high-thermal-mass, load-bearing walls of the lecture theatre, providing natural, acoustic, and aesthetic qualities with extremely low embodied energy.

Sustainable Highlights

Negative Embodied Carbon: The use of Hemcrete (a hemp and lime mixture) for walls is a core sustainable feature, as it absorbs CO2 during its manufacture, resulting in a negative embodied carbon footprint.

Low Embodied Energy Materials: The structure minimizes environmental impact by using locally sourced, low-energy materials like rammed earth (for the 500mm thick lecture theatre walls) and FSC-certified glulam timber.

Passive Design: The building is designed for excellent energy conservation, incorporating triple-glazed windows and a glazed ambulatory to maximize natural daylight and passively warm the high-thermal-mass rammed earth walls while limiting solar gain.