Our heritage

Our story begins as Nick Price joins Tim Crump with the idea of setting up an oak frame house building company.

The Lakes: Operations are moved to Tim’s childhood home in Swainshill, Herefordshire. The house is converted into office space and the first Oakwrights workshop is constructed. A 100ft x 40ft space is created with an overhead crane to make the movement of oak easier.

Bill Keir joins as general manager. Bill was one of the original early carpenters who helped to re-introduce oak frame carpentry into the UK. He also brought a tremendous depth of knowledge to the team from working on and directing some of the UK’s most prestigious oak frame projects.

Pete Tonks and John Williams further strengthen the architectural team, adding their individual styles and character to our designs.

Roland Horwood is appointed as frame design manager and implements the oak frame designer training programme.

We gain a full patent for our 3i infill panel system, along with TRADA certification, which means the traditional panels can be used on NHBC projects.

We win the Homebuilding & Renovating ‘Daily Telegraph Award’ for Best Traditional Design for a house in Norfolk. We also win the Sussex Heritage Trust award for our Richard Hope project.

Our 3i panel system gains industry recognition at the Homebuilding & Renovating Self Build and Product Innovation Awards, taking top spot in the construction systems category.

We install two Weinmann butterfly turning tables to enable the clamping, squaring and build of 8m x 3m composite panels to enclose our oak frames. We also launch our new panel systems: WrightWall (wall/roof) and WrightWall Natural (wall/roof).

Our oak framing apprenticeship scheme has its first intake of carpenters.

We complete our largest and most challenging commercial project. Pavilion One is a contemporary building that houses a Costa Coffee shop at the entrance of the old livestock development in Hereford.

We appoint a Building Regulations specialist and Certified PassivHaus Consultant.

Iain Hendry is appointed to respond to our growing presence in Scotland.

We launch Oakwrights, GreenRooms division to respond to the growing demand for the design and construction of oak framed extensions.

Our ‘Oak Frame Homes’ book is published, to inspire anyone planning to build an oak frame home.

We launch our full turnkey offering, in response to the increasing demand for a full build service, and our custom build offering, which allows us to offer a dedicated service to small developers and landowners.

We begin building a larger workshop to house our softwood production equipment and panel making. The additional office space allows our frame design, projects and architectural design teams to work under one roof, which makes communication much more efficient.

After nine years of working with Oakwrights, Charlie Mills is announced as our new Managing Director. Charlie joined Oakwrights in 2012 and since then has worked alongside all departments, before managing our Outbuildings and Extensions division. Now, Charlie is excited to drive Oakwrights forwards, while Tim Crump takes up the role of Chairman.

Passivhaus certification achieved for the UK’s second oak frame home and the first oak frame Bed and Breakfast in Worcestershire. This was an in-house project where our teams worked with our clients from the initial design stage, through the planning application process, to the momentous day when their bespoke oak frame and Natural encapsulation system was erected on-site, meeting the rigorous Passivhaus building standards. Please click here to read our clients’ amazing self-build journey.