Building hemp home materials deal

AN executive with pioneering hemp materials company HexCore visited Mildura this week, ahead of an expected partnership with the Mallee Hemp Growers’ Group.

Attending the Indigenous Business Expo on Tuesday, chief executive Brett Boag showed off a range of hemp building products to the public, including texture wall panels, pallets, and roof material.

He said it gave people an insight into how processed hemp could be used to replace timber, plastics and steel in various building applications.

“It can be the floor, the walls, the ceiling, the roof, the entire basic structure can be all hemp,” Mr Boag said.

“You don’t even need steel in most applications because we do make an I beam format that’s as strong as steel, but a fraction of the weight.

“Termites don’t eat it, white ants are not an issue either … it’s just basically a vermin-proof product right from the get go.”

Mallee Hemp Growers’ Group managing director Anthony Marciano said it could even be used as the outer material and insulation for cool rooms, and may assist table grape growers interested in replacing white ant-ridden structures.

“We’re about to form a partnership here in Sunraysia with HexCore, it’ll be good,” Mr Marciano said.

“We’ll be able to have the machinery and manufacture the products here and hopefully it will be up and running by September next year, so quite quickly.”

Mr Boag said Australia is leading the world in exploring hemp’s potential as an all-round construction and building material source.

“It grows in 80 days from planting the seed and it can be three times harder than hardwoods, which take 100 years to grow to get the material that you need,” he said.

“It also sequesters carbon more than any other plant, phenomenally more, five times more, so it has a great attribute in that regards as well.

“This is something where if government supported the industry more it would be going a lot faster, but we’re getting there now anyway, so without support from anyone we’ve got to this level.”

A demonstration home made of hemp is being constructed at Cardross, and should be ready for public viewing early into the new year.

In the meantime, Mr Marciano said several companies had shown interest in the product, including Indigenous Project Management.

“At the moment they’ve got a contract for 250 cabins and they’re extremely happy with the product they’ve seen,” he said.

“They’re going back now to BHP and they’re going to present the materials to them.

“We’re going to get some finished products for them up here by next week before they go back.”