Pete Walker

Director, BRE Centre in Innovative Construction Materials,

Dept. Architecture & Civil Engineering, University of Bath

Email: P.Walker@bath.ac.uk

Phone: 01225 386646

Fax: 01225 386691

Curriculum Vitae

Research Interests

Development of low carbon and traditional building materials in contemporary construction, including:

• Unfired clay (rammed earth, unfired clay masonry, cob, plasters)
• Dry-stone masonry (retaining walls)
• Timber (traditional carpentry frames, timber concrete composites)
• Lime in construction (mortars, plasters)
• Crops in construction (straw bale construction, hemp-lime composites)

Current Research Projects

Principal Investigator

2005-7. Lime-hemp materials and technologies. Knowledge Transfer Programme (KTP) in collaboration with IJP Building Conservation. £89k.

2006-9. Novel low energy mortars for masonry construction. EPSRC. £104k.

2006-9. An Experimental And Analytical Study Of Dry-Stone Retaining Walls. EPSRC. £291k.

2007-9. ModCell: Prefabricated straw bale panels. DTi Technology Programme, in collaboration with White Design, Integral Structural Design, Agrifibre Technologies, Eurban, CWCT, Lime Technology Ltd. £150k + £140k industry support.

Co-investigator

2007-9. Development of unfired clay brick masonry. DTi Technology Programme, in collaboration with Ibstock, Hanson, arc Architects, Errol brick Co., Lime Technology Ltd, BDA. £180k + £120k industry support.

Information and links

Earth building

Rammed Earth Information

Rammed earth: design & construction guidelines

International Symposium on Earthen Structures

Traditional Timber

Frame 2003 test report

September 2006 seminar test (test joints; test results)

Straw bale construction

Straw Bale Construction Test Report

ModCell (Prefabricated Straw Bale Panels)

EPSRC Dry-stone wall project