The Wedding Barn, Owlpen Manor, Gloucestershire

Set in a beautiful secluded valley in the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, in the grounds of the Grade 1 Listed Manor House and adjoining an historic 15th century tithe barn, this new round wood timber framed barn will provide an atmospheric setting for weddings and events. The rustic primary round wood frame was made entirely from timber sourced from the estate, making it an incredibly sustainable development in terms of its embodied carbon footprint.

Giraffe Engineering provided a full civil and structural design service for the project including the building frame, the supporting foundations and surrounding retaining walls, allowing this building to be partially set into the hillside. The round wood timber connection design was an intricate exercise in geometry. The maximum capacity had to be realised from the screwed and bolted connections to achieve the long spanning, knee braced timber trusses.