‘Earthship Brighton’, the first house in the U.K. to employ old tyres as a major building material, has recently been completed after a construction project lasting several years. The eco-friendly home is entirely fabricated from recycled materials and considerable use has been made of recycled tyres in the construction of its walls. The American based organisation and pioneer of the concept, Earthship biotechture, state that the tyres are used to “form a rammed earth brick encased in steel belted rubber.” They claim that this brick and the walls thus formed are virtually indestructible.

Earthship Brighton contains 870 car tyres, a plentiful resource that has found favour as an environmentally friendly building material as they have low embodied energy – they can be used in construction without the need for any alteration. The home cost approximately £40,000 to build, far less than a traditional bricks and mortar home.

Situated on an 18-acre property owned by Stanmer Organics, Earthship Brighton is available to hire or to visit on the first and third Sunday of every month.