Hemp in New Zealand, opotiki hemp

1. What is the hempcrete building scene like in New Zealand.. is there more and more houses being built from hempcrete?

As I know, there are less than 10 hempcrete houses built in New Zealand as of today. The interest in hempcrete building is growing and more are starting to be built along with many planning builds in the next few years.

2. Do you struggle with material like hemp lime and shiv locally?

The lime is easy to find as we have plenty in NZ. The hemp shiv is more difficult as we have to import at the moment. In saying that, infrastructure for hemp fibre has begun and the next hemp builds are planning on using NZ grown hemp. This is a massive and positive step for hempcrete NZ.

3. Tell us a bit about your company now and what projects would you like to do in the future?

Our company is called Ōpōtiki Hemp. We are based in the Eastern Bay of Plenty,

We are trialling lime binders and seeing how these behave over time. We hope to get our binder tested and certified to the NZ building code and to be a part of creating a national standard for NZ Hempcrete.

4. Does the local government assist or encourage your company in any way as it is climate friendly?

Our national government is looking at ways in all industries to become carbon neutral. Our local government has a ‘zero waste’ ethos which hempcrete aligns with. Our council in particular is a very small council with some big projects on at this moment. So once we have something built to show them, we will look at what a hemp industry looks like for Ōpōtiki.

5. What is your favorite hempcrete building company to take inspiration from and have you got a favorite build (can be global)

The Australian Hemp Masonry Company has been one I have followed for the longest. The are consistent and have beautiful high standard builds.

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