Challenging and rewarding in equal measure, timber-engineering projects are typically design-intensive and very unusual – frequently doing what hasn’t been done before. Above – the world’s first grid shell to support a frameless glass roof.

Carpenter Oak & Woodland’s skills go way beyond constructing oak timber frames – we also undertake timber-engineering projects, ranging from the breathtaking to the highly unusual.

Successful timber-engineering projects require rare skills – solving complex problems at a design level and constructing challenging designs to exacting standards. Close collaboration with engineers and architects is also required – to use our skills, working as part of a design team, to enable ambitious designs to be resolved. See some examples of successful recent timber-engineering projects. The first stage is often a feasibility discussion, around some conceptual ideas. At this stage, we help architects and engineers to define what is possible and what the budget should be. We then help to refine the ideas into viable plans – after which we undertake construction to exacting standards.

Unusual timber building designs

Sometimes, the timber-engineering challenge is not the project – but the type of construction method where, for example, for aesthetic or engineering reasons, a traditional wooden joint is not being used.

Timber bridges

We’ve built oak timber bridges from the very big (over 75 metres) to small (spanning a small stream). Combining structural integrity with great beauty, oak timber bridges work especially well in rural locations.

Grid shells

We’ve built oak and chestnut grid shells – sections of timber bent into an intricate roof structure – for small garden shelters and large building roofs (and everything in between). These can be single layers or a more complex set of different, interconnected layers.

The downright unusual

Every one of our skills has been brought to bear on some extremely unusual projects, including building a range of ancient war machines for popular television programmes. Find our more about some of the downright unusual timber-engineering projects in which we’ve been involved.