We’ve had another fantastic year at Carpenter Oak; designing, building and installing beautiful frames for projects across the UK.
We’ve built some stunning homes for self-builders who have seen their dream builds come to life, lovely oak frame extensions giving people an amazing addition to their homes, and outbuildings such as garden rooms, which offer practical and stylish solutions.
We’ve also worked on some more unusual projects for private clients, including boathouses – one on a Scottish loch, and a Japanese inspired one in Cambridge which has no mechanical fixings.
There’s been a very modern outdoor bar & kitchen with BBQ, pizza oven, and dining space for entertaining guests, as well as sofas round a wood stove for cosy evenings. And we’ve worked with heritage properties too, like an extension to a 14th century home, which complements the existing medieval house with a jettied frame design, a technique true to medieval timber frame buildings.
In the non-residential/commercial realm we’ve worked on so many interesting and challenging projects. In the summer we were part of the team involved in creating the unique and immersive Living Tree installation as part of the Forest of Imagination festival in Bath. School children and other visitors were able to visit the Living Tree (which has recently won an award) and it was designed to inspire curiosity and conversations about the importance of nature.
Another project linked to nature, and that we’ll be finishing off in early 2023, is for Omved Gardens in North London. We’re building five separate buildings for their urban green area including a green house and a cafe/social space. These very modern buildings are built with different timbers – four are Douglas fir framed, and the final greenhouse will be larch glulam.
In contrast we’ve also designed and built roof trusses for a listed coach house at the English Heritage property, Belsay Hall Castle, near Newcastle. The renovated coach house will become a new cafe, as part of a large conservation project at the site.
None of these projects were possible without the hard work, passion and commitment from our amazing teams in Devon and Scotland. We’re proud to have become 51% employee owned in November, which also marks our 35th year. This gives the team greater influence on business decisions and a share in commercial success, as well as conserving the legacy and values of the business as we head into the next 35 years.
We hope you enjoy this video which is just a glimpse at some of these fantastic projects, and we’re excited about many more to come in 2023!
