Rammed earth building

We build in rammed earth because it is a sustainable and affordable way of building. It is an alternative to brick buildings (firing bricks uses firewood and contributes to deforestation) and an alternative to building from concrete (making cement causes lots of environmental damage).

We have built and are building many buildings from rammed earth at Sam’s Training Village and are now building an office for African Vision Malawi in Njewa, a suburb of Lilongwe. Njewa is also a demonstration site for the benefit of people who cannot travel from Lilongwe to Sam’s Village.

Both at Njewa and Sam’s Village the buildings are surrounded by permaculture gardens.
Read here The Story of Njewa – building an office from rammed earth – with photos:

The Story of Njewa

As you will see from the photos, we started with a bare piece of land. Our first job was to put in a borehole for water, not only for our immediate water needs but to soften the ground so that we could dig it, as it was too hard. In less than a year, the office had risen out of the ground; all done using environmental materials and a local workforce. The rammed earth insulates the building in the cold winter months and keeps cool in the hot summer months.

Two more years have brought about a development in our permaculture gardens which provide food for our needs and a haven for wildlife and the birds. Additional buildings have been constructed for staff accommodation and a garage and workshop for vehicle maintenance.

If you would like to visit our office, just a 15 min drive from the centre of Lilongwe on the Mchingi Road, and see our projects in action do please get in touch.