A Timber Frame Home in the Highlands

Eric and Meira Stockl have taken a great deal of pleasure in relocating from a 14 room mill conversion in Yorkshire to a bespoke bijou two bedroom rural retreat in the North East Highlands. Yet, to describe the Stockls' new home as simply a worthy exercise in downscaling is not to tell the whole story. For in addition to their new cosy living arrangements, Eric, who is a practising potter and Meira, a weaver, have also literally created their very own cottage industry on the site.

Indeed, when the couple relocated to the Highlands three years ago to be near to their son Mark and two grandchildren maximising workspace for Meira's looms and Eric's kiln and potters wheel was uppermost in the couple's minds. As Meira explains, ‘we started off working in a tiny flat in the east end of London Hackney before it got posh. Then we worked in an old warehouse space in Yorkshire, which had no plumbing or electricity'. The couple were doggedly determined to finally work in comfort.

Fortuitously, the couple entrusted their simple vision for the site which contained a derelict stone sawmill, a few outbuildings (one of which is now Eric's pottery studio), as well as great mounds of sawdust to local Ullapool based architect and builder Bernard Planterose of North Woods Construction. As a result the Stockls new home/studio is as commodious, cosy, and eco-savvy as live-work spaces come.

Eric and Meira requested that the ground floor was to provide as big and light a studio for Meira as possible, and the headroom had to be 2.6m for the looms. The main living space therefore had to be on the first floor, and the couple also requested a balcony of some sort. Two bedrooms were asked for one upstairs and one on ground level and the studio required its own bathroom. The couple's final request was for a solid masonry chimney to accommodate a multi-fuel stove on each floor.

As well as designing the house, Planterose and North Woods Construction were also the main contractors. The project was a close collaboration with Nor Build Ltd, who not only fabricated the whole house in pre-insulated panels but also milled, kilned and machined every stick of timber on their own premises. They designed the panel system and the post and beam kit and were in charge of erecting the superstructure. On top of that they made all the units for the kitchen and elsewhere, and the worktops.

The house structure combines a post and beam spine with a normal stud framed exterior wall. ‘The basic timber post and beam structure of the house is a superb solution as it holds the first floor up, and a huge ridge beam holds the roof up', explains builder Bernard. ‘It's ideal for a house like this because it is open plan. It was engineered by John Talbott of Findhorn Engineering, who pioneered this form of construction in the houses he has built in the eco village of Findhorn. A full post and beam house is expensive, but Talbott came up with idea that if you put the posts and beams in the middle you get the impression of a post and beam house but without the expense. In a 100,000 build I think this adds around 10% to the cost'.

In terms of planning, the project was extremely painless. Bernard attributes this to issuing a design statement outlining the whole design ethic and sustainability proposal to the planning department as a pre-planning exercise. The design proposal for the Stockls new home was far from controversial, however, as it very much took on the old sawmill as its starting point, with its very straightforward rectilinear form and a steep black metal roof coming low to the ground on the north pitch.

The north elevation facing the road was kept as blank as possible, which was the best solution from an energy conservation viewpoint, as well as echoing the form of the old stone mill. The use of local timber also seemed entirely appropriate on a site which used to supply so much to the whole North West Highlands.

The construction process was not quite so straightforward, however, as Bernard explains. ‘The weather was not on our side. We started in November and I'd never do that again. Pre-insulated panels were built and constructed here using a small crane, but logistically it was a little bit dodgy, as the crane was too small it was a jib on the back of a small lorry. This is something I would have done differently', he admits. ‘We also found that the only difficulty with post and beam is there are posts down the middle that take half the weight of the roof, so a lot of concrete goes under these posts. Incorporating these footings into the concrete slab foundations knocks the price up quite a bit too'.

‘The house is actually quite an achievement on an ecological level it's faultless', claims Bernard. In addition to the almost entire use of indigenous timber throughout the exterior and interior, the walls are also constructed using Warmcel insulation and Fermacell fibre reinforced plasterboard. ‘We used it because you can't really put ordinary plasterboard on panels that are being moved by crane so we had to use a sheeting board that was far more resilient', explains Bernard. ‘Fermacell is highly ecological as it's made entirely from gypsum and unglued cellulose. It met all the objectives'.

Meira cites the beautiful natural light which floods her ground floor workspace as being one of the loveliest qualities of the house. ‘Some things about the house are much nicer than we imagined, such as the light, and this is very important to me in terms of illuminating my loom when I am working', she explains.

Impeccable details distinguish the interior spaces throughout. ‘With the open plan kitchen we took standard units and hybridised them', explains Bernard. ‘'We took off the unit doors and redid them, using the same Douglas Fir that we've used throughout, and we replaced the worktops with Scottish sycamore. Similarly, with all of the doors, we bought cheap versions off the shelf, took the plywood out of the Scotch pine frames and, again, just used our own Douglas fir to create a horizontal emphasis to the design, which is reflected in the rest of the house'.

‘Many people have said as well as being very spacious, the house is actually quite spiritual', claims Bernard, a view very much shared by Eric and Meira. ‘We're really happy with the house', affirms Meira. ‘Not only do we have comfortable workspaces, but we also have a lovely open plan area upstairs to spend our leisure time. It is everything we hoped it would be (although some more storage space would be nice!) It's a joy to live and work in'.

Further reading:

• A Traditional Long House Self Build in the Highlands
• A Wooden House Built on the Isle of Skye
• A Budget Home Built on Farmland in Scotland