Locally grown timbers

A constant feature in our builds is the use of durable, locally grown timbers.

Used primarily in exterior cladding, European Larch and Western Red Cedar provide an attractive and hard wearing solution to making a structure weatherproof.

They have a reddish-orange look when first installed, transitioning to silvery-grey within one to three years and a lifespan of between 20-40 years.

Locally grown and milled

What’s more, the trees themselves are grown within a 50 mile radius and milled within 20 miles of our build sites, not only reducing freight miles but also supporting local business.

So what makes these timbers suitable for the job?

Larch is the most dense of the softwood trees and has a high resin content which resists water penetration. Cedar is lighter weight, but has a higher content of reactive oils which serve to repel water and insect damage.

Neither tree is native to the UK, Larch being from Central & Northern Europe and Western Red Cedar from the West coast of Canada and the USA. Both of these native habitats have colder winters which results in slower grown, denser timbers and in turn provides greater durability.

However, Canadian Cedar and Siberian Larch are considerably more expensive and have a far dearer carbon footprint. We only use UK grown cladding and are yet to see any signs of decay in the first structures we built over five years ago.