A Dundee business says its timber frames used for housebuilding can dramatically reduce the time it takes to create a home.
Typically it takes between three and six weeks to erect the walls and roof of a house and make it wind and watertight.
But Timber Engineering’s process means this can be achieved in as little as a day.
The company was established by Eddie Wighton and Mike Pratt, who also founded city housebuilder InverTay Homes.
Having developed and refined their timber frames for their own homes, they realised their system could also provide a boost to other housebuilders.
Timber Engineering has set ambitious growth targets, believing its solution – which combines speed with energy efficiency – could contribute towards more homes being built and help relieve the housing crisis.
Speeding up construction
Eddie said the company developed its own timber frames after being dissatisfied with what was available on the market.
He said: “The quality and reliability were not what we were after.
“In the early days of InverTay we built up the timber frames on site. Four of us would carry the frames out of a shed that we put up on the construction site. It was quite a slow process.
“It led us to look at how we could make our processes faster and more efficient.”
They decided using larger panels would speed up the time on site, which is the most expensive element.
This led to entire sides of homes being constructed off-site at the company’s premises at Pierce Avenue.
The focus has been on creating a product with sustainability and energy efficiency credentials.
For InverTay Homes even the windows are installed into the panels before they are transported and lifted into place by cranes on site.
“The panels we make are now up to 14 metres long,” said Eddie.
“What it’s meant for InverTay Homes is that we have a completely harmonised process because we’re the developer, housebuilder and manufacturer.
“We want to achieve maximum efficiency on the construction while increasing energy efficiency on the end product so the customer can get more bang for their buck.
“Creating the panels for another housebuilder can take slightly longer, as the design is probably not quite as optimised.
“But we can still put up a wind and watertight home in three days which is still a vast reduction from the three to six weeks which is typical.”
Timber Engineering growth plans
Timber Engineering was spun off as its own entity five years ago and has since completed projects all over the UK.
It has ambitious targets to grow this arm of the business by 30% this year.
Currently the Dundee firm typically installs as well as manufactures the panels but as orders ramp up it is looking to partner with other companies who can take on the installation element.
Eddie said: “If the whole industry was to look at building in a far more efficient way, then we should be able to deliver more houses per annum and do a small bit to tackle the housing crisis.
“As an industry we can do better if we stop fighting against each other and start working together.
“Then perhaps we can get beyond this situation where people are buying poor quality houses because that’s all that’s available or people are living in housing stock that’s just not fit for purpose.”
Conversation