Norbord major timber frame development

Sterling OSB and Caberdek flooring from Norbord are playing leading roles in one of Scotland's largest and most prestigious timber frame developments.

Sterling OSB and Caberdek flooring from Norbord are playing leading roles in one of Scotland's largest and most prestigious timber frame developments.

The high quality timber board products are vital components in the off-site manufacture of wall, floor and roof assemblies by Stewart Milne Timber Systems (SMTS) whose sister company, Stewart Milne Homes, is building the £100 million Kepplestone development in Aberdeen.

Located on 21 acres of land previously occupied by Robert Gordon University, the Kepplestone development comprises 240 flats with one, two or three bedrooms, nine penthouses, 50 terraced town houses and 27 luxury villas.

A premium residential development, Kepplestone is set in beautiful landscaped grounds and commanding breathtaking views over the city.

As befits a development of this importance, build quality and the standard of finish are extremely high.

With the exception of the three 8 and 9 storey apartment blocks, which are of steel frame construction, all the properties at Kepplestone are being built using SMTS' timber frame system.

"Timber frame offers significant benefits in terms of speed of erection, thermal and acoustic performance and health and safety benefits compared to other build methods", comments Stewart Milne sales and marketing director Gary Yeoman.

With major components built off-site, the construction programme is considerably shortened, with consequent cost benefits.

Off-site manufacture also allows better quality control, ensuring optimum thermal and acoustic insulation and, because timber frame systems take many traditionally site-oriented activities within the controlled environment of a factory, there is less risk of injury during construction.

OSB and particleboard are basic components of any timber frame system.

At SMTS' Aberdeen factory, Sterling OSB is machined to size and pre-fitted to all external wall panels.

OSB is also pre-fitted to all floor panels within the factory to provide a safety deck on site and to form the base upon which the separating floors between flats will be fixed.

SMTS also pre-fits Caberdek flooring to floor cassettes in the factory, allowing a finished floor surface to be installed quickly in one operation on-site.

"Norbord supplies much of our board product under a long-standing framework agreement".

"We selected Norbord because the company provides a consistent high quality product, on time and to our customer's requirements," says Mr Yeoman.

"Furthermore, we can be confident in the knowledge that Norbord has the manufacturing capacity to meet our demands to the desired quality", he adds.

This was an essential requirement for Kepplestone, where the volume of material required is very high.

But Norbord's ability to meet demand is invaluable even in smaller projects where just-in-time delivery from the factory can bring significant cost benefits.

Another SMTS project recently completed is at the St Catherine's retail development in Dunkeld Road, Perth.

Here Stewart Milne has built a development of fashionable apartments in a central part of the city as part of a larger urban redevelopment.

"The speed of erection provided by timber frame is a major advantage in reaping the benefits of any development", comments Mr Yeoman.

"The sooner you can bring the property to market the better", he says.

Norbord is the UK's largest manufacturer of engineered wood-based panels for the construction, packaging and furniture industries.

Timber frame construction is now the dominant method of building residential property in Scotland, and its penetration into the English market is now accelerating.

Tighter acoustic and thermal performance requirements in the Building Regulations, as well as a growing emphasis on more efficient and environmentally sustainable building methods, are stimulating the growth of timber frame usage throughout the UK.

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