*Large hempcrete panels sprayed by Americhanvre Cast Hemp were featured at the 2023 GreenBuild Conference & Expo in Washington, DC. Screengrab from US Hemp Building Assn.*

Hemp Building Companies to Converge at GreenBuild, Philly Nov. 12-15

By Jean Lotus

Multiple US hemp-building companies will make a big splash for around 25,000 visitors at one of the largest US construction sustainability expos and conferences later this month in Philadelphia, thanks to collaboration and the generosity of a hemp processing company and a hemp-building non-profit.

Montana-based IND HEMP and the Nashville, TN-based Hemp Building Institute have teamed up to sponsor and subdivide The Goodness of Hemp Pavilion, a 20 x 30 trade show footprint at the 2024 Greenbuild International Conference and Expo. Around a dozen US hemp building companies have been invited to exhibit at the Pennsylvania Convention Center — without paying the $3,700 booth fees.

The exhibit space in the new Carbon Storing Materials Pavilion at GreenBuild is intended to “promote hemp as THE go-to material for environmentally friendly construction,” Trey Riddle, chief strategy officer for IND HEMP said in an email.

Along with IND HEMP, hemp building companies participating will include Hempitecture, Inc . (Jerome, ID); Homeland Hempcrete (Bismarck, ND); Sativa Building Systems (Wittenberg, WI) US Heritage Group (Franklin Park, IL); Tiger Fiber Hemp (St. Louis, MO); Hemp and Block (Montrose, CO); MO-based Midwest Natural Fiber and trade associations the National Hemp Assn. and US Hemp Building Association. Additionally, Pennsylvania-based Americhanvre Cast Hemp and Murray, KY-based HempWood will be exhibiting at their own booth.

Sponsored yearly by the US Green Building Council, the GreenBuild conference and expo showcases “the latest advancements in green building practices, technologies, and innovations,” according to promotional materials. Many of the attendees are architects and designers who make decisions about materials choices in large-scale projects.

“Collaboration is key here and is providing the opportunity for hemp building to have a significant presence at [GreenBuild 2024],” said Matt Marino, president of Homeland Hempcrete in a message. “Our company would not be able to afford participating in this show without the help of IND HEMP,” he added. “And we wouldn’t be able to have an actual product display without the collaboration work with have done with Americhanvre… providing our panels for the show. This all comes together at a critical time as we also had the [IRC 2024 Appendix BL] that came out this year and a lot of testing that’s adding legitimacy to the industry,” Marino said.

“We need to make a strong effort to continue to bring our industry into the mainstream, and that means getting in front of people who may have never even heard of hemp building materials,” said Zachery Popp of Sativa Building Systems in a message. “We’re thankful for forward-thinking organizations who see value in collaborating to spread awareness and grow our industries together,” he added.

Hemp building materials companies have exhibited at past GreenBuild expos most recently in 2022 and 2023, but hemp has never been in the spotlight like this year.

“We welcome our colleagues and friends to Philadelphia, and we are humbled by the might and determination that drives us all,” said Cameron McIntosh in a message.

He said the hemp displays will have the potential to really disrupt the mentality of the construction industry.

Being at GreenBuild brings, “great joy and a sense of defiance to what has become the ‘status quo’ for the green building material industry,” he messaged. “Last year we were one of only three truly bio-based and carbon sequestering material companies in a sea of underwhelming displays, many of which were constructed completely of the least environmentally friendly materials in use today.”

The displays will give attending architects and designers a path to specify bio-based materials, while also showing hemp is ready for prime time, said exhibitors.

“The significant presence at GreenBuild shows the construction world that hemp building is a legitimate system that’s ready for the larger stage,” said Tai Olson, of US Heritage, in a message. “By showing off a variety of companies, products and professionals, we have the opportunities to demonstrate the maturity of hemp building and generate interest with the decision-makers who can move it into the mainstream.”

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Americhanvre

Texas Healthy Homes

South Bend Industrial Hemp

Sativa Building Systems

Whitefield Hemp Partners

Hillside Center for Sustainable Living

Gradek Contracting & Designs

CannaVision

2022 Greenbuild Exposes Barriers to Using Hemp-Lime

It was at the expo in San Francisco in 2022, that Olson said his company identified a key barrier to building larger-scale US projects like many in the EU with hemp-lime (hempcrete): Commercial architects had no official commercial “spec sheet” for hempcrete. Large-scale commercial architects use manufacturer-provided “guide specs,” to insert language into bid documents.

“If they wanted to use hempcrete, they’d have to write the spec themselves, and no one wants to do that,” Olson told the USHBA.

USHBA Architect’s Toolkit Roll-Out

After two years of planning — under Olson’s leadership on the US Hemp Building Association board — USHBA rolled out a hempcrete commercial guide spec available as a free download from spec website Arcat. It’s part of the USHBA’s Architect’s Tooklkit, a suite of free resources which also includes a link to the International Residential Code Appendix BL for hemplime, AIA continuing ed information and open-source architectural details from Parsons New School’s Healthy Materials Lab.

Architects at GreenBuild will be able to find those resources with a QR code at the USHBA booth.

“As one of the largest annual sustainability conferences in the world, [GreenBuild] is where we need to show up,” said USHBA board member Alexander Sexsmith, AIA, in a message. “We appreciate the leadership of IND HEMP coordinating to help bring the USHBA and colleagues to help move the industry forward,” he added.

“Momentum is what we are experiencing the hemp building space, and it feels good,” said Ray Kaderli, USHBA president in a message. “At GreenBuild we will see a combined effort of designers, builders and suppliers. The entire business ecosystem needed for successful projects will be represented, and more are entering the space daily,” he added. “Many thought that hemp in building would mature much faster, but this late-bloomer is gaining momentum. Jump in!”

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Homeland Hempcrete

HempStone

Complete Hemp Processing

Verdant Structural Engineers

*US Heritage displayed hemplime wall panels at Greenbuild 2022 in San Fransisco. Photo courtesy of James Forbes*

Midwest Hemp Technology

United Fiber Co

Hemp Building Co

Naturalia Construction

Participants said they were excited to attend the event that is generating FOMO in the hemp-building world.

“I think it’s great to see a unified effort among the US industrial hemp industry to take a serious approach to US construction,” said James Forbes of Tiger Fiber in a message." He pointed out that bio-based materials are crucial in “what will be the largest growth of the build environment in human history over the next 30 years.” Collaborating with IND HEMP and the Hemp Building Institute is a signal that, “we’re stronger nationally by working together to close the supply chain gaps and [spin] innovation,” Forbes added.

“It's amazing to see so many hemp building companies and industry stakeholders unite under one banner, The Goodness of Hemp, with a shared vision for building up the U.S. Hemp Industry,” said Derek Wolf of Hemp and Block in a message. “Big thanks to sponsors IND Hemp and Hemp Building Institute for putting together this tremendous initiative and assembling such a powerful team,” he added.

“This is our third time in a row displaying HempWood at GreenBuild,” Hempwood founder Greg Wilson said in a message. “It’s our best show of the year to reach the sustainability-focused design community.”

Hemp and Block LLC

US Heritage Group

Stuc-Go-Crete

Terra Vida Academy

*Greg Wilson of HempWood explains his flooring product at the San Francisco GreenBuild in 2022. Photo courtesy of James Forbes*

Bison Biocomposites

High Desert Hemp Homes

HEMPSTEADS by Tim Callahan

Old Pueblo Hemp Co.

New industry Group to be Announced

At the conference IND HEMP will announce a new AI benchmarking tool called HempMARK. IND will also announce plans for a new nonprofit industry group this fall called Hemp Education and Marketing Initiatives (HEMI), consisting of hemp producers and manufacturing companies. HEMI’s first official activity is to sponsor the GreenBuild booth, said Jacob Waddell of Hemp Building Institute, which advised the GreenBuild planning.

“For the hemp-building industry to gain market traction, it is important for the industry stakeholders to attend building industry events and represent hemp products as a legitimate alternative to traditional materials,” Waddell messaged. He said the large number of hemp industry stakeholders in one pavilion “is a big step forward in representation and illustrates the growth and strength of the industry.”

This article has been updated to include remarks from Cameron McIntosh and Derek Wolf.