Construction World August 2022

ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY

A global first, 84 Harrington Street is officially the world’s tallest building constructed using hempcrete blocks and hemp building materials. CONSTRUCTED WITH HEMPCRETE IS IN CAPE TOWN THE WORLD’S TALLEST BUILDING

A partnership between two Cape Town-based companies, Hemporium, and Afrimat Hemp, 84 Harrington Street is setting the benchmark for how to build a safe, carbon neutral, multi-story building using hemp blocks and hemp systems. “I bought 84 Harrington in 2016, with the idea being that it would become the flagship Hemporium store, a steak restaurant, and house the ‘Hemp Hotel’, a place where people can experience living in a hemp-constructed space. From a sustainability and eco-construction perspective, we wanted to take hemp construction in South Africa to the

next level, while also contributing to the inspiring hemp construction projects being undertaken globally. We also believed that once licenses for the commercialization of hemp in South Africa were issued, having innovative examples of what can be achieved with hemp would assist with leading the way for the fledgling hemp industry in South Africa,” Duncan Parker, Founding Partner and CEO, Hemporium. There is a massive increase in the global demand for bio-based construction which is driven by the need for the reduction of CO₂ emissions. Hemp construction is

16 CONSTRUCTION WORLD AUGUST 2022