Successes in Scottish timber include products used in
building and construction. This page is about the successful use of
Scottish timber cladding in social housing, public buildings and
private homes and offices.
Although timber cladding does not have a history of
extensive use on Scottish buildings, its use has increased in the last
5 years. It is an environmentally friendly building material and has
other favourable characteristics, being lightweight, competitively
priced, and energy efficient. One of the principal driving forces
behind the increased use of cladding are local authority and government
policies on sustainability.
Cladding is typically made from durable softwoods
such as European larch and Douglas fir - typically only the heartwood
of these species - but it can also be made from oak, elm and other
durable hardwoods. Its available as planks or shingles from most ASHS
members.
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The Inverurie project involves building a small
development of 34 houses for Castle Hill Housing Association. The
architects for the project are Mike and Sue Thornley, Glasgow, whose
design proposals resulted in their winning the Sustainable Housing
Competition and being awarded the design contract by Castle Hill.
Almost all of the exterior walls in the development
are clad in timber, most of which is larch with some Douglas Fir. The
cladding is made from square edge boards, which have been left rough
sawn and will not be treated.
The timber was supplied by several ASHS members including Frank Gamwell of FG Woodland Services.
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Built at Achbeg, Ross-shire, last year by Dualchas
Building Design, An Tigh Learaig (The House of Larch) is a simple
timber frame family house clad in larch. Larch was also used to clad
the Dualchas office, also on Skye. The larch for the office was
supplied by Cromartie Timber. Both claddings will be left untreated and
allowed to weather naturally to a pale grey colour. Care in the
detailing and selection of heartwood timber will mean minimal
maintenance and a life span of at least 30 years. |
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Douglas fir grown in Dumfries and Galloway was used
to clad the exterior of the new Natural Power office near Dalry.
Douglas fir was chosen because it is particularly stable and could be
sourced very close to the office - within a 2 mile radius. The boards
were cut and air dried on site. They are vertical, rough sawn boards
and measure 25mm by 150mm. The office was designed by Neil Sutherland,
Architect, who was careful to design the building in such a way as to protect the cladding from prevailing weather and maximise its lifespan. |
The David Douglas Pavilion, situated within the
Scottish Plant Collectors Garden at Pitlochry was short-listed for the
National Wood Awards 2003. It was designed by Robin Baker of Gaia
Architects and built by Carpenter Oak and Woodland. The entire
superstructure is constructed from Scottish timber. Cladding is from
untreated Douglas fir, and the roof is covered in shingles of untreated
selected heartwood of European larch. The
shingles in measure 150 x 450mm and taper from 4 to 22mm thick. They
are cut to a blunt point to form the diagonal fir cone effect when
laid. They were cut by ASHS member, E.G. Johnstone. The building was opened to the public last year and has generated a great deal of interest.
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