Malcolm's Golf Shop and Tea Rooms is an example of how traditional green-oak construction can be used for a commercial building. The building was constructed using oak trees felled on-site to create a timber frame in keeping with the local environment. Green oak allows the wood to dry and shrink after construction, avoiding weaknesses that can occur. The project shows how green oak framing provides a durable, low-impact material for commercial structures when local architects have knowledge of the technique.

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How traditional green-oak
construction can be used in a
commercial building.
Green oak construction is a specialist skill that is rapidly disappearing,
and when it is used, it is often in restorations, or rural domestic buildings.
Malcolm’s Golf Shop and Tea Rooms is an inspiring example of how this
traditional method can work in a commercial context, providing a modern
space out of this beautiful material.
Introduction
Truro
Exeter
Salcombe
Malcolm’s Golf Shop
Key dates
Planning approval :
November 2005
Trees felled : 2007
Build : 2007 – 2008
Exterior - Photo © Tom Vanstone

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Context
Thorn Park Golf Centre at Salcombe
Regis is a 30 acre, 9 hole, golf course
set in a picturesque, historic village
which dates back to the Doomsday
Book in South Devon. The historical
nature of the surrounding area was
an important factor in the design
and development. The materials
wouldbothbeaestheticandrelevant
to their surroundings. Malcolm
Burrow wanted the building to be
in keeping with its environment, as
well as being functional and fit for
purpose.
The 30 acre site has a variety of
trees, and as several oaks had to be
felled in the spring of 2007, Malcolm
thought that using these as the main
building material would be ideal
not only because it would provide
him with the type of building he
envisaged, but that the impact on
the environment would be also be
reduced by reducing haulage and
transport.
Malcolm chose to use local Portland
stone from Dorset, reclaimed tiles
and softwood cladding, as he felt
that not only would they enhance
the build aesthetically, they would
also fit in with his desire for this to
be a low impact build.
Oak - Photo © Servane Guihaire - Constructys Bretagne

3. French-British collective Libnam3
Building overview
In order to comply with building
regulations, the foundations of
the two storey timber framed
structure are reinforced strip, or
trench foundations. On top of
the foundations, the plinth was
constructed of cavity block on which
the oak frame would rest.
In contrast to other building
methods, the wall fabric of the
building did not use a cavity system.
The frame is counter battened with
a membrane and then Cedar wood
was used for the external cladding.
The Portland stone on the veranda
and the reclaimed tiles on the roof,
blended well with the oak and
wood ; the overall effect was one of
harmony within the structure and
with the surrounding environment.
Technical focus :
Building the oak frame
The Green Oak for the Golf Shop
Frame was milled on site using a
mobile band saw, which enabled
Tom and Ben to maximise the
amount of wood used from the
felled trees. Also the time, energy
and potential risks were reduced
due to the ability to produce the
construction materials onsite.
Using the freshly felled timber
Before cladding - Photo © Tom Vanstone

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The architects do not have the
understanding and appreciation of
the strengths and benefits of Green
Oak, and view the shrinkage that
occurs as the oak dries as an issue
that they would rather not have to
Frame - Photo © Tom Vanstone
meant that the drying movement or
shrinkage of the timber would now
take place after construction and
during occupation. This means that
the movement due to change in the
frames moisture content, cannot
create any weaknesses in the joints
and that the fabric of the building
retains structural integrity. Another
benefit of oak seasoning in situ is
that the surface marks, or fissures
that might occur, are acceptable
compared to other ‘clean’ pre-
seasoned wood. This is why an
understanding of how the wood
moves as it dries, and how the grain
effects shrinkage, makes working
with oak a craft that requires specific
skills and experience.
The frame for the shop and café
was a double isled structure which
would allow room for a veranda on
one side and a large counter area
on the other. This would leave a
large open plan central area for the
shop down stairs. Upstairs, open
slingbrace frames were used to
create an open office space.
Green Oak as a viable building
material
Green Oak can simply be defined
as oak that has been recently felled.
«Green oak is not used enough
in new building projects», states
Tom Vanstone, of Devon Oak. He
believes much of the problem
lies in the lack of knowledge with
the architects who are usually the
first point of contact for clients
wishing to commission a new build.

5. French-British collective Libnam5
deal with.
This lack of knowledge and
understanding of how green oak
works when being used is not
there, and thus, working with it, is
a skill which is rapidly disappearing,
whereas, historically, it was the main
technique for building with wood.
During the Medieval period it was
common place, and within England,
many examples of the work are still
around today.
If oak is dried out (seasoned) it
becomes incredibly hard and it
becomes very difficult to work
with, even with today’s modern
power tools. As the oak dries out
it has a tendency to crack or split
length ways, which results in the
loss of often substantial amounts
of useable timber. Compared to
soft wood, oak dries very slowly.
Outside frame - Photo © Tom Vanstone

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A section of frame 200 mm thick
will take 6-8 years of air drying to
lose the excess moisture, and the
use of kilns would not achieve a
significant reduction in the time.
This is a practical problem as most
oak framed buildings are bespoke,
so keeping seasoned pieces in stock
does not work. If a project could
wait the 6-8 years for the pieces to
season; the removal of the excess
moisture causes the timber to shrink
and would affect the build as oak has
a high drying shrinkage coefficient.
These are the reasons that Tom and
Ben of Devon Oak work in Green
Oak and not seasoned oak.
The Benefits and strength of
Green Oak
The benefits of Green Oak compared
to Glulam and Douglas fir, which
are viewed as having comparable
material unit costs, are that oak is
naturally durable, does not have
to be treated and has very good
weathering properties. The wood
has an attractive finish and so can
be left exposed reducing the need
for the application of other finishes.
Oak also has very good fire
retardation aspects, with its
structural integrity exceeding steel
I-beams of similar size. More details
Inside frame - Photo © Tom Vanstone

7. Stakeholders
Client : Malcolm Burrow
Architects : ARA Architects
Prime Contractor : Devon Oak – Tom
Vanstone and Ben Gillespe
Costs
The client, Malcolm did a lot of the work
himself, bringing in local contacts to help
with the brickwork. He also saved a lot of
money by hoarding reclaimed materials
such as the roof tiles and bar top and by
using trees felled from his site.
As the Golf Shop was not a domestic
building, it isn’t necessarily heated
for much of the time so energy
performance figures were not done.
Performancecan be found in BS 5268-4 and BS
EN 1995-1-2.
When comparing oak to steel,
bending tests undertaken by TRADA
and the Forestry Commission
found that although the variation
of bending strength of green oak
is 15% and that steel is over three
times as strong as oak, the steel
weighed 10 times more.
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Back of the building - Photo © Tom Vanstone
Contact
Petroc
www.petroc.ac.uk