Welsh Oak Frames wins national award

13/11/2012 @ 01:48

A Caersws company specialising in constructing high quality oak framed homes and buildings has won a coveted national award.

Welsh Oak Frame, which employs 40 people in Caersws has collected the accolade for best partnership with a local authority in the LABC All Wales Building Excellence Awards 2012.

The company received the award during a ceremony at National Assembly for Wales’ Senedd building in Cardiff attended by Environment Minister John Griffiths.

Welsh Oak Frame now goes through to represent Wales in the UK final in London, where they will be up against 11 other regional winners.

Although it’s the first time that the company has won the LABC All Wales Building Excellence Award, it has won regional awards for Powys and South Wales previously.

The awards showcase buildings and design teams that have had to overcome technical issues and difficult sites to come up with innovative and creative solutions. Finalists are not judged on architectural beauty, but on the excellence shown from a construction and technical building control point of view.

“We are delighted with this award, which is an endorsement of our working practices and how we convey our technical information to local authorities to ensure that we are complying with current building regulations and best practice,” said Paul Edmunds, director of Welsh Oak Frame.

“Here in Wales we are one step ahead of the rest of the UK because we have adopted a new code for sustainable homes, which means that we have to achieve a high level of energy efficiency in all our new homes.”

The company is one of the leading oak frame builders in the UK and is accredited by the Timber Research and Development Association (TRADA), an internationally recognised centre of excellence on the specification and use of timber and wood products.

Specialising in bespoke designs and traditional craftsmanship, the company devotes time to working with customers to ensure that they achieve the house of their dreams. Around 40 building projects a year are undertaken across the UK.

A successful new venture recently launched by the company is Arboreta, which designs and creates oak home extensions, garden rooms and orangeries.

Caption: Director Paul Edmunds (left) and general manager Mark Jones with the LABC All Wales Building Excellence Award outside a current building project.