*IsoHemp’s new factory in Fernelmont, Belgium will produce 5 million blocks per year, enough to build five houses per day.*

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By Jean Lotus

Belgian hemp block maker IsoHemp has opened a new factory which will increase the company’s production to 5 million blocks per year from 1 million, the company said.

The new $5.9 million factory on 2 hectares is meeting a growing demand for hemp blocks for both renovation and new construction.

"Building a house with hemp blocks is an affordable, healthy and sustainable alternative to the conventional way of building, with a much lower CO2 impact,” said co-founder Olivier Beghin in a statement.

Based in Fernelmont, Belgium, the new factory will pump out enough blocks to build five new homes per day, or eventually 1,800 carbon-neutral homes per year, Beghin said.

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“In this way, we will make a significant contribution to the decarbonisation of the construction sector and the achievement of the ambitious European climate targets,” he added.

The company works with local lime and hemp suppliers and produces products focusing on environmental performance, proximity and efficiency.

“We have been working to decarbonize the construction sector for 10 years now and we remain 100% convinced that the hemp block has a crucial role to play,” Charlotte De Bellefroid, IsoHemp spokesperson told Hemp Build Mag in May.

Pre-cured hemp blocks save drying time compared to on-site mixing of hemp and lime plaster.

IsoHemp’s new construction sales have increased since the launch of the Hempro modular system consisting of two block sizes that are held up by a post-and-beam skeleton of timber or load-bearing concrete masonry. The company recycles all of its manufacturing waste and recovers its production water.

Blocks work well as insulation because of air pockets trapped in the fluffy hemp within the lime blocks. Unlike Portland cement, walls do not crack with freeze-thaw cycles because hemp and lime regulate moisture inside a building and wick it to the outside. Hemp insulated homes save on heating and cooling costs and have highly rated acoustic properties.

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IsoHemp, which started making blocks by hand in 2012, is now exporting blocks around the world made in its robot-assisted factory from the United States to Australia, and from South Africa to Russia, Beghin said. Already IsoHemp distributes in Europe and Israel.

“We now have a factory that is unique in the world to respond to this [demand],” he added. “And we have every reason to believe that this demand will continue to grow in the years to come.”

In the United States, Ketchum, Idaho-based Hempitecture, Inc. has imported IsoHemp blocks from Belgium for U.S. homebuilders.

Even though the overseas demand is strong, the company wants to license its block technology to other regions to cut down its carbon footprint.

"If we really want to work sustainably, transporting the hemp blocks over distances longer than 500 to 800 km doesn't make sense,” Beghin said.

Jean Lotus is editor and publisher of HempBuild Magazine. jeanlotus@hempbuildmag.com