Many people worry about the natural implications of using oak as a building material -and not without reason. At the beginning of the C20th just 4% of the British Isles was covered by woodland. This is an age old problem which dates back to before the time of Henry VIII. During the Jacobean period wood was used widely for building, heating and expanding a burgeoning merchant fleet -so deforestation is not a new phenomenon to our shores.

Since then, happily, the Royal Forestry Commission has been doing sterling work and that figure has increased to around 12% - with 10% of that woodland populated by Oak. For these woodlands to continue and thrive they need to be managed, which involves constant felling and replanting.

Oak is the ultimate renewable resource -it requires no industrial processing and can be used in its raw state with minimal waste and energy expended. Indeed, if all the homes built in Britain since 1945 had been oak framed buildings then around three hundred million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions could have been avoided!

For more information on Oak please go to 'About Oak' or click here