Care home contractor Castleoak's timber frame contracts

Castleoak likes to consider itself a caring constructor in every sense. The Cardiff-based care sector specialist not only prides itself on its timber frame developments for nursing homes and sheltered accommodation, but it has also developed a new fall-arrest system, which it plans to make available to the industry in return for a charitable donation.

The firm has been using the platform timber-frame method of construction since 1987. All its projects in care homes and supported housing accommodation are constructed using timber frame, ranging to four storeys.

Supported by a grant from the Welsh Assembly Government, the firm has now established Castleoak Timber Frame, bringing its timber-frame design and manufacture in-house.

Managing director Colwyn Knight explains: "What this development provides is another important secure link in our supply chain that allows us to keep to our promises to our clients in delivering both on time and on budget."

And having brought its expertise in-house, the company has turned its attention to health and safety, developing its own fall-arrest system to improve safety on its sites.

Traditionally, fall-arrest netting has been used successfully on larger commercial buildings, but usage in the housing sector has been limited. The Castleoak fall-arrest net system has been designed, in consultation with the Health & Safety Executive, for use in timber-frame structures with individual nets installed on a room-by-room basis.

Colleague welfare

Head of construction Kevin Trow says the system works well in the company's tightly defined phasing strategy used in the construction of its buildings.

Net sizes are denoted by coloured tags and a specially-developed bracket system, which attaches the nets to the timber frame. As well as being stable and effective, the system allows full, unrestricted access throughout the structure, unlike other methods of fall arrest such as inflatable bags and crash mats.

"We now have a product that will provide a safer working environment for all our site teams and others," says Trow.

The company does not plan to derive commercial benefit from the venture. When firms contact it, Castleoak will offer an information pack in return for a modest donation, calculated relative to a company's turnover, to Foundations, its charitable arm, which supports UK and over-seas charities.