Denwell Cottage in Insch, Aberdeenshire is a bright and spacious, yet snug and cosy detached timber framed contemporary home with two reception rooms, four bedrooms, four bathrooms and a cinema/bar room.
It was built by Cairnrowan Custom Homes, using a timber kit supplied by leading UK full kit manufacturer and supplier Scotframe.
Cairnrowan build all their homes using a Scotframe timber kit because they believe that they are the most accurate and energy efficient on the market, allowing them to build high quality, air-tight homes very quickly.
Modern in appearance, Denwell Cottage mixes timber cladding with white render, which contrasts beautifully with a dark grey slate roof and grey window frames. Ample glazing takes advantage of spectacular views, and the 2.7m high ceilings and 6m double height areas give a fantastic feeling of space throughout the home. The open plan ground floor area is flooded with light from the floor-to-ceiling windows which open out onto an expansive decking area.
Energy efficient
The family wanted a green, energy-efficient, high quality home that could be built quickly, and that wish has not just been granted but exceeded, thanks to the use of Scotframe’s Val-U-Therm PLUS® closed panel system for the roof and walls. The chosen 140mm wall panel (with a U-value of 0.11 W/m2K) offered the best solution for thermal performance and cost effectiveness without any detrimental effect on the size of the home’s overall footprint.
The finished house has an A rating for energy, an as-built EPC of 97% and an air tightness of 0.38 air changes per hour. This is into Passivhaus standards in terms of energy efficiency, resulting in a home that is warm and draught-proof in winter, cool and well ventilated in summer, enjoys very low energy bills, and is a healthy environment for all the family.
The home’s likely energy usage is 28 kWh/ m2/year, achieving Gold Aspect level 2 for energy use for space heating from the Scottish Building Regulations – the highest possible level. The calculated emissions are over 4.6 times less CO2 per year than the average Scottish household.
Quick to build
Using Val-U-Therm PLUS® pre-manufactured roof and wall cassettes also helped increase the speed of build. The building was wind and watertight within just six days, allowing quicker access for follow-on trades. It was fully complete within 14 weeks to a set pre-agreed budget, making the build process as stress free and enjoyable as it possibly could be for the family. An open panel timber frame house being built by the same labour force would have taken around 20 weeks, with a brick and block house significantly longer.
Green and high quality
The insulation in the Val-U-Therm PLUS® panels also has excellent green credentials; fully recyclable and with a BRE Green Guide A/A+ Rating – the same as straw bales or sheep’s wool. Scotframe’s timber is also sourced from sustainably managed forests governed by PEFC and FSC, making a Scotframe kit an excellent choice for the environmentally conscious self-builder.
Scotframe’s quality assurance scheme is accredited to the ISO 9001 Standard, meaning their timber frames are manufactured to the highest standards. Scotframe kits use strength-graded and kiln-dried timbers which are appraised by an independent structural engineer. This appraisal is used by Scotframe to provide detailed manufacturing and site information, ensuring the kit fits together accurately.
The Val-U-Therm® building system has been independently accredited by the British Board of Agrément, including verification of structural, fire and thermal performance, condensation risk, sound insulation and durability.
Thanks to the use of a Scotframe kit, this beautiful, eco-friendly home with extremely low running costs was built so quickly and smoothly that the family were delighted, not just with their finished house, but with the entire process.
“The timescale was unbelievable – I could not have imagined how quickly things would come together, and the quality is amazing,” said Iain Jaffrey, owner of Denwell Cottage.
“We were blown away by how quickly we were able to get into our new home.”
