First contact I had with the strawbale building at Hackney City Farm was via a weekend course run by Amazonails . After teaching us the basics , we got the majority of the walls up by the end of the course. Seemed like a lack of a carpenter on site , so I offered my skills for the rest of the job . We quickly got a roof up to protect from the weather . The load of the split roof was supported by a massive timber reclaimed from the Norfolk sea defense . All the big structural timber was sweet chestnut from a sustainable farm in Kent , where the doors where made too . Flooring was salvaged Victorian boards and the panels / desks are Teak from an old Thames boat . Probably the darkest green job I ever worked on . From car tyre foundations to the lime and clay renders the whole building could easily rot into the ground one day without hurting a fly . Over a hundred volunteers helped over the duration of the build . Now an urban eco resource centre running courses by LILI , I even got to teach a bike power workshop for Magnificent Revolution in the proud building we put up