The Big Green Home Show came to the National Self Build and Renovation Centre in Swindon this month.
The Centre is a permanent display open Tuesday to Saturday every week, but for a few dates a year it hosts a self build show – the latest being The Big Green Home Show. The shows create a vibrant atmosphere as all the trade stands have experts on hand to answer questions, full auditoriums packed with a busy seminar calendar and a central demonstration area.
As well as our permanent stand there, this year Will and Tom – with a little help from the shaving horse – demonstrated the art of traditional peg making, the method we use to make the hundreds of green oak pegs that go into every frame we put up.
We were also joined by Astrid Arnold, the carpenter behind Astrid’s House, a mini timber frame house that can be assembled and taken apart to demonstrate the construction processes involved. The house, sponsored by Carpenter Oak, usually visits schools to give a hands-on experience to children and the show demonstration was no exception.
We soon had an army of families getting involved and grappling with the timbers, with many visitors to the show being able to get up close to a traditional oak frame building and get a live, miniaturised idea of what Carpenter Oak does on site, week in, week out.
- Building inspection
- Raising Astrid’s frame
Visitors to the centre can see our permanent stand and its frame up close, as well as photos and information on oak framed buildings. During the show, Jamie and Will were on hand to talk to prospective clients and visitors making their first steps towards realising their own projects, from concepts to finishing touches.
‘The Centre is a fantastic resource for anyone planning a self build project.’ said Jamie Wilson, Sales and Marketing Manager. ‘I like the NSBRC show events as they tend to attract a really high number of genuine quality people and their projects. There also tends to be fewer people attending, which in turn allows us to have more detailed conversations.’
The educational zone resource helps takes the mystery out of a build, demonstrating foundation types, construction options – including oak frame – and roofing choices before ending at the trade zone, a collection of suppliers to the self build market displaying their wares for all to explore at their leisure.
If you’re planning a house build and want to know more about oak frames, contact us for more information.
