FOOTPRINT+ is the world’s most advanced international conference for the decarbonisation of the built environment.

Unity Lime was delighted to exhibit alongside Kind Supply & The Hemp Block Company at the Footprint+ exhibition. The show was hosted at Old Billingsgate, London in May 2024. The Exhibition was the coming together of Architects, Structural Engineers, Developers and many more industry professionals to learn, and discuss the practices, methods and materials that are going to show us the way to achieve a low carbon future within the built environment.

We were delighted with the discussions taking place on the stages, many of which fit perfectly with our own ethos and mission to create better buildings with the occupants in mind while using sustainable products and practices.

• The “nature stage” focused on nature-based solutions to reduce whole life carbon, increase sequestration, replenish nature and seek more efficient ways of reusing different building materials; exploring the barriers to and benefits of building with nature. Woodfibre & hemp among the many materials discussed on this stage due to the low environmental impact and their superior performance in relation to conventional insulation materials.
• Material futures” focused on historic products such as solid stone construction and how these can be utilised to reduce the overall embodied energy of masonry. An excellent presentation was made by the stone collective highlighting the processes our typical masonry contractions go through and how utilising solid stone straight from the quarry can reduce costs significantly. A key detail when building with solid stone is the importance of breathability using lime mortars, renders and vapour permeable insulation materials. See our recommendations on IWI and EWI insulation methods for solid wall construction to understand the benefits and how we can reduce the risks associated with insulating solid walls.
• The timber stage focussed on the increasing foothold timber has within commercial, institutional and residential property. With its inherent ability to sequester atmospheric CO2 through sustainably-managed forestry we explore how structural timber is one part of the net zero solution for the built environment. With PAVATEX wood fibre being the industry leader and one of the more local wood fibre insulation manufacturers to Britain. It is the perfect choice to compliment
• Retrofit agenda – The UK has one of the oldest building stocks in Europe and the need to insulate using appropriate materials is absolutely crucial. We are proud to support organisations that take the whole house approach to responsible retrofit and the use of the correct materials for each application. There is no such thing as a one size fits all approach to retrofit and it is crucial that specifiers and contractors have the correct knowledge on how to approach each building type appropriately.

After 2 days of meaningful conversations our Managing Director – James King, was thrilled with the interest in wood fibre, hemp, cotton, cellulose, cork, woodwool and foam glass solutions on offer as well as the complimentary lime plasters. By combining these fantastic products into well designed, high performance systems we are able to provide a full technical service. We look forward to working with any and all specifiers and contractors that would like to take a step forward to create a better built environment for all.