Combining technical design, master craftsmanship and exquisite materials to create stunning spaces

Based in Wiltshire, the original company was founded by craftsman Charley Brentnall (pictured right) and architect Roderick James (pictured left).

The first oak framed house constructed in the South Hams – replacing a 1950s bungalow. The full height vaulted ceiling showcases the exposed beams and rafters of oak. The large, hand stencilled, open fireplace is framed by the huge, iconic arched braces.

Just down the road from the Devon yard, this huge home, with a glorious cruck-framed hall, oak framed swimming pool and panoramic views stretching from Dartmoor to the South Hams coast, is constructed in 1991.

In November 1992 a fire at Windsor Castle affects 100 rooms including the Great Kitchen. Carpenter Oak would win the contract to help restore the roof of the kitchen, which had lost most of the medieval timber.

The desire for newly built oak framed homes becomes more and more popular, and the Devon yard is set up in Cornworthy, near Totnes in South Devon.

An oak and steel framed theatre with a pyramidal roof lantern is built for Bedales School in Hampshire, in collaboration with Roderick James Architects and Feilden Clegg Bradley. The building wins national RIBA awards.

Following the successful project to restore the roof of the Great Hall at Stirling Castle, the yard in Scotland is set up, situated by the Loch of Lintrathen, Angus.

A Carpenter Oak house is featured in the 2nd series of Grand Designs. The home’s unique cross-shaped layout centres around an octagonal kitchen - a stunning open-plan space perfect for socialising. A two-storey space above connects the kitchen to the galleried first-floor landing, crowned by a striking glazed roof lantern.

At the time of construction, the Solar Canopy was the largest solar collector in the UK. It spans 1,300 square metres, containing 250 photovoltaic panels that generate 80,000 kilowatts of electricity per year.

A full-scale trebuchet for Warwick Castle is built - it is the world’s largest working trebuchet based on designs from the 13th and 14th centuries. In 2023, after many years of daily use, the trebuchet required replacing and Warwick Castle again commissioned us, with our team dismantling it and building a new one for a new live spectacular show at the Castle.

The visitor facilities, with Carpenter Oak frames for the restaurant, shop and entrance, wins RIBA regional and national awards, and a Wood Award. The design is a modern interpretation of the former barn with stainless steel ‘arms’ to hold the timber posts, allowing for the walls to be almost entirely glazed, giving views to the gardens and beyond.

The incredibly challenging timber frame gridshell is built for the Grade I listed Chiddingstone Orangery, which wins the Wood Award for Best Use of Timber Frame. The timber frame gridshell is constructed from four layers of alternating lath with specially designed node clamps to keep the frame rigid whilst allowing for small amounts of settling in movement.

A timber engineered Visitors Centre opens at Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland. This innovative new space was supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Historic Scotland, and was in collaboration with Scottish architects Page\Park and engineers Momentum.

This Douglas fir framed family farmhouse wins Best Timber Frame House award at the Homebuilding & Renovating Awards. The project site sits among Nissan huts originating from a Second World War USAF airbase. The brief was to complement the unique surroundings and landscape by means of a low level, sustainable, timber family home.

The huge green oak frame for Penistone Market in Yorkshire is built, being one of the largest public timber frames in the UK. It wins a national LABC Building Excellence award.

Carpenter Oak wins two Build It awards, for Best Oak Frame (Hart House - a energy efficient oak glulam home) and Best Self Build (Higham-Findlow - a modern feeling home with a traditionally pegged frame).

Carpenter Oak's owners take the first steps in their succession plan, by gifting 10% of the business' shares to an employee trust, and the company starts on its employee ownership journey.

The Wolfson Tree Management Centre at Westonbirt wins four RIBA awards. The Centre, a 35 x 20-metre building, was required to house large agricultural machinery, and the king post truss roof was constructed with Corsican pine, felled at Westonbirt.

The Brixton Department Store, with a Carpenter Oak frame, designed by Squire and Partners, wins four RIBA awards. The rooftop bar and dining room above a renovated London department store is made with six linked oak frame lanterns.

The British Normandy Memorial, a tribute to the more than 22,000 Allied Forces personnel who lost their lives, was officially opened on 6 June. Carpenter Oak designed, manufactured and erected the pergola structure covering the stone columns, with the names inscribed of the fallen.

Redhill Barn wins RIBA regional and national awards, and is shortlisted as a RIBA House of the Year 2021, featuring on Grand Designs: House of the Year on Channel 4. The planed and kiln dried UK grown Douglas fir frame consists of a single truss which spams the 21m long barn, from gable to gable.

The brilliant renovation of a 230-year old barn wins LABC Building Excellence Awards ‘Best Residential Conversion to Create a Single New Home’ and Build It Award for ‘Best Oak Frame Home’.

Carpenter Oak becomes majority employee owned, allowing the owners to pass succession to the team instead of selling off the company to an external body, giving the company, and the staff, the means to maintain its culture, standards and values.

The extension for the Chapel at Radley College in Oxfordshire, with a Carpenter Oak octagonal oak roof structure, wins the RIBA South Building of the Year Award 2023 and the Regional Conservation Award.

The boathouse, built from UK larch and using no mechanical fixings, wins a RIBA East award and the RIBA Small Project of the Year, as well as an Architects’ Journal Award. Built with UK grown English larch, the boathouse uses authentic Japanese timber jointing and sits by the River Cam in Cambridge.

After many years in a beautiful but secluded spot near Cornworthy in the South Hams, the Devon team moves to larger facilities in Buckfastleigh, by Buckfast Abbey in Devon.

Created in collaboration with architects Barboza Blanco, this project, and its intricate, structural frame, celebrates the strength of timber design and the ingenuity needed to build in such a challenging setting.