There’s been a shift change in recent years – one that has been long awaited. Timber frame construction is on everyone’s lips, even those hard-liners that said that masonry will always be better than timber – they were wrong.
The government is helping to lead the march to build 300,000 new homes each year in the UK (a tall order for masonry but not for timber frame), and they are citing off-site manufacturing of timber frame systems as the solution.
Timber has been used for constructing buildings for centuries and today, thanks to our modern manufacturing methods, it is finally being recognised as a leading low-carbon, low-cost, and highly efficient building material.
Timber frame comes out top in all areas
There’s a long list of benefits to building houses and commercial buildings using timber frame systems, but here are 10 primary benefits to building with timber frames:
- Quicker build times – a prefabricated timber frame house can be fully constructed and weathertight in under a week.
- Lower build costs – quicker build times, fewer delays, less waste, greater efficiency, higher quality and less labour can lead to significant cost savings.
- Quick manufacturing times – a complete timber frame house, including thermally-insulated closed panels and roof rafter can be manufactured in less than 12 weeks.
- High thermal efficiency – closed panel systems have low U-values – target timber has some of the lowest U-values possible, down to1718 W/m²K, including the outer brickwork.
- Reduces on-site labour needs – off-site manufacturing means fewer on-site labourers who are often difficult to find or rely on.
- Sustainable and low-carbon – timber has the lowest C02of any other building material. Trees absorb high levels of carbon which will stay contained inside the timber for life and every timber frame home saves around 4 tonnes of carbon dioxide.
- Less noise and disturbance – with most work taking place in a factory the local area is less impacted by noise and pollution.
- Eliminates building delays – with all timber frame building materials being built in the factory there are none of the major delays associated with masonry houses.
- Better safety standards – off-site manufacturing can reduce on-site safety hazards by 20% because safety standards are higher and more controlled in the factory.
- Better quality standards – timber frame systems are built to high-quality standards and go through a strict in-house quality process.
It’s clear to see why timber frame systems get top marks, not only as a low-carbon, sustainable building material but because they allow construction companies and self-builders to build outstanding quality homes in the most cost-efficient way.
If you have a project that you would like to discuss, please get in touch.