We first used Castle Timber Design on an apartment complex in Croydon, London and indeed it was my first introduction to timber frame construction. Having built traditional masonry units for most of my life I was surprised at the speed of the erection time. We had a four storey apartment block erected over three week. The pleasant surprises did not stop at the erection, but also when the product was finished. I would have been apprehensive in relation to the sound and indeed meeting the Building Control in Croydon at the time. However, we out performed our previous masonry constructed jobs in both sound and in u-values. I have since then used Castle Timber Frame on further apartment complexes in Clapham, London and in Brixton. We have also recently signed a contract and started erecting Phase 1 of 136 houses in Maynooth, Co. Kildare.

If I were to put into a couple of points the benefits of Castle Timber Design they would be as follows:

  1. The programming: the fact that we can sign into our programmes now six months out and when we get the delivery and erection date, that is the day our unit arrives.
  2. The efficiency on site and the reduction of labour on site has been quite astonishing. Normally the Maynooth programme would command up to 12 bricklayers, but in this case we have reduced the bricklaying requirement and attendance by some 15 men by having our product manufactured off site. This obviously leads to streamlining of our site supervision and management, but also to the tidiness and general health and safety of the sites.
  3. The accuracy of the building dimensions and consistency of product being produced is a much welcomed bonus to the timber frame product. Again, we have huge confidence that our product is being delivered to the proper specification and therefore reducing our requirement for site supervision and quality control checks
Mark TyrrellDirector with Anthony Neville Homes