The foundations are to be constructed from old car tyres, lots of them. Over the past months, we have travelled the county collecting old car tyres from local businesses to form the foundations of our house.

The idea is that these tyres act as underground gabions, which, when filled with pea gravel form a solid base for the straw-bale walls.  They therefore replace large amounts of concrete that usually form the foundations of houses, and as everyone knows, generate huge amounts of CO2.  Old tyres, however don’t, though they might if they are disposed of or recycled.  Buried underground and protected from UV light, they are likely to remain relatively inert for a very long time.