The Ultimate Guide to Designing a Building with Timber in 2023
Making your building stand out is a great way to turn heads, grab the interest of customers, and make you stand out among your competitors. With the right features, you can also add additional benefits to your visuals and beyond.
Timber cladding for your façades, both internal and external, can provide unique impact to your building’s architecture. In this article, we’ll discuss the steps you need to take before you can enhance your build with our timber cladding solutions.
If you’ve got any questions, feel free to ask us directly. Get in touch today.
Why Build with Timber in 2023?
Using the right building materials is a good way to cut costs, improve the impact of your projects, and increase the eco-friendliness of your construction activities. Timber ticks all of these boxes as a sustainable material with a versatile range of applications, providing a holistic solution to building materials.
We’ve outlined some of the key benefits you can receive by using timber in your next project:
A Sustainable Resource
The timber we use in our cladding solutions at NORclad is sourced sustainably, meaning that you won’t be harming the environment by making use of our timber for your building. This principle can be applied across your project, resulting in an increase in overall sustainability for a greener way to build.
Learn more about the sustainability of timber here >
Stand Out Among the Crowd
Having striking visuals will set you out – not just from the buildings around you, but your competitors as well.
For some, this might involve a lengthy and expensive process with an architect as they create a strange new design. For others, a more down-to-earth approach like using cladding can still provide the impact you need while elevating the internal and external appearance of your building.
Read our article on how to improve the design and appearance of your building >
Increase the Durability of Your Building
Having properly treated timber cladding on the outside of your building can reduce the effects of the elements on the appearance of your façade. Well-treated cladding can offer over 40 years of consistent visuals, keeping your building looking fresh while protecting the exterior walls that lie beneath.
Find out more about how timber cladding can increase a building’s performance >
Improve Efficiency
Not only is timber an efficient material to build with, but it can also increase the efficiency of your building. It does this by providing an extra layer of thermal insulation on either the inside or outside, helping to prevent heat from escaping and reducing the amount of energy you need to warm your building.
See our article on the benefits of external timber insulation for more >
The Steps to Building with Timber
Now that you’ve got an idea of what benefits timber can bring to your building, it’s time to start planning. To help, we’ve created a set of three simple steps you can follow to bring our timber cladding solutions into your next project.
1. The Design Outline
Think about what you want from the building. Create a clear goal of what it is you’re trying to achieve, how you want to do that, and produce a document that clearly states this to your architects and managers.
Get advice along the way. This can help to mitigate problems down the line, keeping things running as smoothly as possible. Who knows, someone else might suggest something you can use to revolutionise your design.
Having an architect review your design is a great idea in providing grounded feedback on its viability and impact. So what type of things should you think about beforehand?
Purpose. Always link the creative design elements back to the purpose of your building. Great design should enhance your build, not hinder it with unnecessary components.
Budget. Make sure you don’t go overboard with your features, especially when considering a reserve fund in case anything goes off-plan.
Location. Fitting in with your surroundings can help make a building appear more authentic. For example, timber cladding offers a holistic way to blend in with the natural environment.
Material. At every stage in the design outline process, you should be considering what materials you use and why. Is it durable enough? Is it sustainable? Will it look good? These questions and more are what you should be asking yourself whenever you add a new feature or consider the materials for a design element.
2. The Timeline
Bringing your build from paper to reality involves a lot of people. This can cause chaos if things aren’t managed correctly. With so much going on at a construction site, making sure everyone knows what needs doing when will keep things operating smoothly.
Sit down with your architects, builders, and contractors to produce a timeline of events. Not only can this provide insight on things that may need refining to finalise your design, but it allows you to implement a robust timescale and management practices that help keep things in order.
Make use of modern architectural technology like augmented reality to enhance your designs >
Consult with specialists on the design and the materials you’re going to be using. Interior designers, experts on external accents like timber cladding, and structural elements of your build should all be considered and reviewed at this stage.
Make sure all your documents, legal policies, and regulatory compliances are in order. Then, you can move on to the next and most exciting step – starting the build.
3. Construction
Finally, it’s time to bring it all together. Take your design and turn it into a reality. The scope of your project will impact its final result but as long as you follow the simple strategy above, you’ll be prepared for any hiccoughs along the way.
To help ensure everything runs smoothly, you’ll need to make sure you work with the proper project managers and advisors. Consult with specialists to improve the project management for your timber building project – get in touch with NORclad today.
Enhance Your Next Project with Timber Cladding from NORclad
For a sustainable, impactful, and beneficial resource to enhance your building, look no further than timber. With a wide range of applications, from structural uses to brise soleil and cladding, timber is a versatile material that can improve any project.
Start your next project on the right foot by getting support from the experts. At NORclad, we have decades of experience providing the highest quality timber cladding in the UK, helping you take your build to the next level. Contact our team, check out our range, or read on with some related articles.
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