For immediate release:13 February 2024

INDUSTRIAL HEMP INSULATION GETS GREEN LIGHT FROM

BRITISH BOARD OF AGRÉMENT

-         Borders sustainable insulation company achieves a UK first to help decarbonise built environment sector -

-          

IndiNature (www.indinature.co), based in the Scottish Borders, has become the first UK company manufacturing industrial hemp insulation to achieve a full agrément certificate from the British Board of Agrément (BBA).  

This means that the company's innovative and sustainable insulation products can now be used by the housing and construction sectors at scale for both new build and retrofit projects.

BBAagrément certificates are a valuable and trustworthy symbol of excellence, recognised in the industry as a differentiating mark of product quality and suitability for meeting UK building regulations.

IndiTherm

The company was established in 2016 to make healthy, environmentally friendly,, sustainable insulation materials on a commercial scale.  Indinature has built its first cutting edge IndiNature Mill in the Scottish Borders to produce the insulation materials to help decarbonise construction. 

The industrial hemp is Yorkshires' finest, sourced from East Yorkshire Hemp, leading UK farmers who are licenced by the UK Government to grow the crop. Hemp was a traditional crop in the UK and is farmed extensively around Europe. IndiNature aims to help re-grow the local supply chain for industrial hemp over the coming years and is working closely with farmers close to its base in Scotland.

Ensuring industrial hemp is more available as insulation is the brainchild of co-founder and chief technical officer Scott Simpson, who when studying sustainable architecture at the Centre for Alternative Technology carried out lab-based research into natural insulation materials and found they had many performance advantages over conventional materials.  He used his family home as a case study; rebuilding and extending it using the best natural materials available.  The three-bed home now has energy bills 25% of the average and keeps humidities and temperatures even, comfortable and healthy all year long.  However, he found the products were hard to source, expensive and had to be imported.  Now, with IndiTherm certified, hemp-based batts can be used in many applications as a simple alternative where conventional mineral wool insulation is used in construction such as open timber frame studs, roofs and floors. 

Scott who led the certification process said:

"Our whole team feels proud to have worked with the BBA to achieve the only agrément certificate currently in the UK for industrial hemp insulation - and even more proud of the fact the products are made by local workers in our mill and the fibres are supplied by local farmers. This means carbon captured by British farms can be stored in British buildings.

We founded the business because we care about quality buildings, people's health and the planet - a full BBA agrément certificate will help us grow those positive impacts on scale. Securing an agrément is a highly demanding and rigorous process for any company - as a start-up this been even more of a challenge but has meant we have optimised our in-house controls and are continuously improving product performance. It's been tough for the team to get to this stage but we feel great about achieving our first certificate. The trend for natural low carbon construction materials continues to grow - this is an exciting time for IndiNature as we help accelerate that supply.

Alex McLeod, IndiNature's new CEO added:

"To have BBA certification demonstrates that our products have been tested to the highest standards expected here in the UK, and will undoubtedly assure architects, builders and contractors that our products are not only sustainable but achieve required performance levels.

We are currently the only UK manufacturer of natural fibre insulation products to be accredited with a full BBA agrément certificate and this is already proving to be very positively received by our current and potential clients. We are now well placed to offer a range of unique carbon-negative insulation materials with the peace of mind that our products have been tested to the highest standard.  

 I'd like to thank the team at BBA for their diligence and rigour through the process and we look forward to working with them again as we expand and develop our product range."

For further information please visit:www.indinature.co

-ends-

Media Enquiries to:

Mike Reynolds

Managing Director

Integris Communications

T: +44 (0)7748 635678

E:mike@integriscomms.co.uk

Notes to Editors

About the brand - IndiNaturewww.indinature.co

IndiNature was co-founded in 2016 and has grown with the backing of the Scottish ecosystem of support for entrepreneurial start-up and impact-led businesses, including Scottish Edge (Winner 2017)-and Scottish Enterprise Unlocking Ambition and Climate KIC through the Edinburgh Climate Change Institute.

• IndiNature is the brand name of Industrial Nature Ltd based in Edinburgh - leading on investment raising, materials innovation including biotech R&D, and establishing the infrastructure for local manufacturing.

• The IndiNature Mill was established in 2022 at Jedburgh in the Scottish Borders as their first manufacturing site, and is home to its manufacturing and sales subsidiary - Industrial Nature UK Ltd. 

• With the support of 44 seed investors, major funding was secured in 2021 & 2022 to establish the IndiNature Mill and build the team, backed by the Zero Waste Scotland Circular Economy Investment Fund, South of Scotland Enterprise and investment from the Scottish National Investment Bank.

• IndiNature's core principle is to make high quality biobased, circular materials and to make them available from local crops, with local manufacturing in to local homes around the world- on an industrial scale.

• IndiTherm is the company's first product to be manufactured, and after 14 months of production is now BBA certified. It is stocked by distributors and merchants across the UK.

• Industrial hemp is a historic crop in the UK - it was grown for its durability and strength for the Navy's rigging, anchor ropes and sails. This incredible crop is now a vital part of the world's resources to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

Images

• IndiTherm & Installer Images: Credit - IndiNature

For more detail on the company, products or where to buy visit: www.indinature.co

About IndiTherm insulation:    https://www.indinature.co/inditherm

IndiTherm replaces conventional mineral wool insulations. It can be friction fit between structural framing or against masonry - with excellent rigidity to resist slumping.

• Healthy and soft to touch for installers, large carbon savings, net negative embodied carbon.
• Building occupants will benefit from the excellent thermal and moisture buffering properties of this sustainable and breathable material, creating healthier indoor environments reducing damp and mould.
• It has the added property of low-density heat storage, which means indoor temperatures stay warm in winter and cool in summer. Durability tested.

Benefits of using hemp-based insulation include:

• Storescarbon- hemp has a net capture of carbon unlike other insulation materials which produce huge amounts of carbon as a by-product of their production process. 
• Warminwinter- hemp has great thermal performance reducing heat loss.
• Coolinsummer- natural fibre insulation reduces the risk of buildings overheating by passively storing and releasing excess heat to keep temperatures level all year long.
• Circular- unlike other insulation materials which end up in landfill, IndiNature products can be reused at the end of life or reprocessed into the same products.
• Fire safe- IndiTherm has passed the UKAS accredited Reaction to Fire standard EN 13501-1.  For smoke, the product has the best Class rating of s1. For flaming droplets, the product has none, with a Class of d0.
• Vapour breathable- excess water vapour is safely transported out of buildings; keeping indoor air healthy and structures dry to extend the lifespan of buildings
• Locally farmed- all our hemp and flax is made in the UK supporting local jobs and reducing carbon in transport.  Hemp is a fast growing annual crop, making it a highly renewable and sustainable crop capturing ‘now' carbon.
• Preserves buildings- by keeping structures dry hemp helps preserve buildings including historic and listed buildings.
• Affordable- working on optimising costs with volume to be more price competitive with conventional insulation materials, while ensuring a sustainable living along the  supply chain
• Healthy- natural regulation of humidity means reduced risks of damp and mould as well as healthy indoor air.  Hemp fibres are safe and soft for installers to handle
• Easy build- batts provide simple friction fit and have the added advantage of being more rigid to resist slumping. 
• Quiet acoustics- excellent sound dampening properties - achieving building regulations with 40db sound reduction in internal partition walls.

-//-