When it comes to environmental considerations, timber is the most eco-friendly building material in use today. A spokesman for eco homes and sustainable development portal What Green Home, says: 'Concrete has a high embodied energy value and releases carbon dioxide (CO2) when made, which is one of the main greenhouse gases that causes climate change.'
'Steel too, through the process of making it, which involves burning fossil fuel byproducts at extremely high temperatures, is an extremely high energy user and releaser of CO2. The beauty of wood is it's carbon neutral, is a very versatile building material and it just looks so beautiful too.'
While wood may be the purist's choice of material it is not the only one that can be used. Steel too is popular, especially for commercial buildings. Albright says, 'Steel and wood are different, non-comparable, materials, but one thing that is good about timber is it is very cost effective, more so than steel, which makes it more affordable for domestic buildings. At the moment timber is also more popular in the UK for us in residential houses.'
Wood's main environmental plus is it absorbs CO2 naturally, which makes it a carbon neutral material when felled and used for construction, or when it is burnt as biomass for heating requirements. Albright says, 'Both soft wood and oak can be regrown which makes them great for sustainability. Soft wood can grow more quickly than oak, which makes it easier to replenish.'
'At Border Oak we source all our oak from wood farms which means they are grown to be cut down and therefore the growth and re growth of the trees is managed. Also we make all our frames by hand, which cuts down on the amount of carbon needed in production. Therefore, it is just the transportation from the wood farm to our workshops to the site of the house that really emits any CO2.'
'The costs of timber, like any commodity, will vary hugely. Factors, such as the size of the building, how complicated the frame is going to be and the specification will each play a part in how expensive the wood will be. Border Oak's prices start at about £30 per square metre and rise to around £65 per square metre, which is for oak built homes.'
The aesthetics of timber frame buildings is a consideration much like a brick or steel built house in that it can be built to look like a traditional Tudor home, a Scandinavian-type home, or a sleek contemporary home, perhaps timber clad and combined with large glass windows.
Albright says, 'As with most house building, there a large amount of flexibility in the design and look of timber framed buildings. It really depends on what else you use with the timber, for example stone masonry or weatherboarding.'
The provenance of wood is often a talking point, primarily from a carbon footprint perspective - the greater distance it is shipped from the higher the number of carbon miles racked up - but also from a cost implication.
Albright says, 'The wood that is used for homes in the UK comes from all over the world and where the wood is from doesn't make much impact on the cost. The cost is more to do with the quality and cut of the wood. The main difference, for example, between German/Scandinavian and British frames is that the priorities are different. Frames from Germany/Scandinavia tend to be pre-packaged with everything from the frame to light switches. In the UK there is more focus on individuality and more appreciation of the historical craftsmanship.'
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