30m² straw bale classroom

Impact achieved

•Mondeor Eco School of Skills provides pupils who have had difficulty in a mainstream academic context, with an alternative educational setting that is more conducive to their specific needs and learning abilities. This presented an ideal opportunity to test an alternative building method that resulted in a strawbale classroom.

•Breadline Africa’s Alternative Infrastructure Project identifies and pilots alternative building methods which contribute towards the UN sustainable development goals. Strawbale construction is a building method that utilises bales of straw (commonly wheat, rice, rye and oat straw) which provide excellent insulation. It is often used in natural building or “brown” construction projects as a sustainable method in terms of materials and energy needed for heating and cooling.

•The advantages over conventional building materials includes the renewable nature of straw, cost, availability, insulation and fire-retardant properties.

•Thana Rautenbach, Eco Director of Mondeor expressed her gratitude: “Thank you Breadline Africa for your amazing team who came to our rescue to build a new eco-friendly, upcycled classroom for our learners. This class came just at the right time as the school is growing in numbers. We are proud to have an eco-friendly classroom on our premises, as this offers an opportunity for each learner who enters to ask questions about the structure, which we see as a learning opportunity. The learners and teachers love the classroom and it is especially warm and cosy in there during the cold and wet winter season. We can’t thank you enough.”

•Funding for the project was provided by Mr and Mrs PW Armstrong, Christopher Lendrum, Gilander Foundation, David Black and Brown Forman South Africa (Pty) Ltd.