Construction is a sector that doesn’t readily embrace change or criticism. It’s hard to blame it – after all, if what you build has to last for generations, then being conservative is no bad thing. But one set of attitudes that is finally crumbling into dust are those towards timber frames in the British construction industry. It’s about time, too. 

A traditional builder might well have had some objections to timber frames: concerns over durability, fears about fire risk, worries about movement and cracking. These were valid criticisms of the way the material was used some time ago. But modern timber frame systems are precision-engineered in factory conditions, thoroughly tested, and meet strict standards. What is more, even the fiercest sceptics would concede, after twenty years or so of modern timber frame construction, that fire performance, movement and durability are no longer major worries. Indeed, the material has been used for centuries, often resulting in the most exquisite buildings still with us today: there’s quite an evidence base here, in other words. For Timber Frame House Kits, consider //merlintimberframe.co.uk/timber-frame-kits 

Also, most of the impetus for the shift to timber frame is coming from outside the industry. Global net zero targets, a desire to reduce embodied carbon to the bare minimum; all of this has put timber in pole position as a material that is more likely to absorb carbon than emit it. And it tells a good story – arguably the best story of all. 

As the clients start to ask for it, the planners begin to back it, and the architects start designing with it, the industry is belatedly catching up.