G-frame Structures, CLT, Cross Laminated Timber, Glulam, Hybrid Frame, barn conversion, renovation, private home County Down Barn

County Down Barn is a contemporary take on a traditional barn conversion formed of a one-storey Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) structure installed on the footprint of a dilapidated stone agricultural building. Built on a limited budget and timescale and located on a tight site with stunning views across the Mourne Hills of County Down, Architect Micah Jones has used a complementary material palette of CLT, stone and concrete to produce an elegant, yet comfortable and robust family home.

CLT was specified for several reasons including its enhanced thermal and air tightness performance – a major benefit as all the insulation on the house is external. Other key considerations were CLT’s structural ability to achieve the clean, long spans that Micah was looking for its high quality finish which was important because internally the CLT has been left exposed throughout.

The Barn is laid out as an upside-down house with the main living space on the first floor and the bedrooms and bathroom at ground floor level. The house is long and narrow and Micah has designed the CLT upper floor to create a ‘tunnel of timber’ effect, formed of one long open span. This has been achieved by an ‘over-truss’ solution developed for the project by CLT specialist G-frame Structures where the trusses are placed on top of the roof and the roof is ‘hung’ from them making only the tie beams visible internally.

“The initial brief was to have no trusses at all and to use twice as many beams placed externally, but this added too much cost and G-frame were able to design a solution that works really well, uses less timber and has had the added benefit of opening up and zoning the space,” says Micah. “The result is the modern, open space we wanted instead of the more traditional barn conversion with internal triangular trusses placed every few metres which would have effectively closed down the space.”
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G-frame Structures, CLT, Cross Laminated Timber, Glulam, Hybrid Frame, barn conversion, renovation, private home
G-frame Structures, CLT, Cross Laminated Timber, Glulam, Hybrid Frame, barn conversion, renovation, private home
G-frame Structures, CLT, Cross Laminated Timber, Glulam, Hybrid Frame, barn conversion, renovation, private home

CLT off-cuts from the windows and doors have been used to form the staircase which links the ground floor sleeping areas to the living space above. CLT offcuts have also been used to form kitchen furniture, tables, built in furniture and an internal log store; both to minimise waste and create a cohesive finish.

A centrally located ‘hub’ on the first floor landing provides a family room with a mezzanine play space above. To one side of this, at the top end of the house, is the open plan kitchen, dining space and living area or ‘snug’. Another, quieter living space is located on the other side, from where the full length of the house can be seen with the surrounding landscape visible through the doors at the far end.

The County Down Barn is believed to be Northern Ireland’s first completed CLT building and it has set a precedent with NI Building Control which it is hoped will pave the way for people wanting to build with the material in the future, including a fire engineered solution which allowed the CLT to be left exposed internally.

RSUA House of the Year

RSUA Small Project of the Year

RIBA Northern Ireland Regional Awards

Structural Timber Awards: Shortlisted