Galstones Farm

Galstones Farm replaced an existing fire damaged farm building, reimagining the traditional farmhouse with a primary structural frame entirely from timber. The resulting home, located in the greenbelt, was commended by the planners for bringing 'a modern intervention to the former agricultural site' and is the culmination of the collaborative effort between the client and the project team.

The building is primarily constructed from solid timber joists and rafters, supported off glulam beams and load-bearing timber stud walls. However, to maximise the views across the valley, the gable is framed with a large glulam portal. The portal frame, standing at over 7m in height, provides stability to the gable as well as supporting the glulam ridge beam to the roof. The design team worked to coordinate the larger geometry of a timber portal frame without impacting on the architectural intent, maintaining timber as the only primary frame material, rather than switching to a more slender but carbon intensive steel portal frame.

As most of the character of the original building was lost during the fire, the clients have rebuilt the beautiful stone fireplace in the living room. As a further architectural cue to the character of a traditional farmhouse, downstand glulam beams supporting the first floor are visually expressed and run continuously through the various rooms, similar to the oak beams in the former house.

Off-site manufacture of the timber frame, with walls formed in panelised units which could be erected quickly, and joists and beams cut precisely ready to slot into place allowed the entire build of the superstructure to be completed in just 12 days!

The innovative use of timber to form the structure and the low carbon nature led to the project winning Best Small Building at the IStructE Yorkshire Structural Engineering Awards and being Highly Commended in the Most Sustainable Project Category.