From Tree to Timber, from House to Home
This beautiful Oxfordshire home, The Old Orchard, is a certified EnerPHIT retrofit of an existing 1960’s bungalow. The property had been extended and remodelled in the 1980’s but has recently been transformed by Tom Gresford at Gresford Architects.
Minimalist Architecture and a Low Carbon Footprint
EnerPHIT is the Passivhaus retrofit standard, but the focus of this project was to reuse as much of the existing fabric as possible. This meant that elements of the existing building which had a high level of embodied carbon (such as screed, blockwork walls, concrete lintels etc) were all left undisturbed and kept the carbon footprint as low as possible.
Gresford Architects carefully redesigned the property, which included an extension to the first floor level using existing walls and foundations. The property has been externally insulated and now requires no separate heating system.
The Trees That Made it a Home
Among the site’s defining features were a number of Western Red Cedar trees that had matured within the grounds for decades. Carefully felled, milled and machined at the start of the project, the timber was returned to the building for use as external cladding, extending the history of the site into the fabric of the completed house.
Completing The Project
As part of the project, Vastern Timber supplied additional British Western Red Cedar cladding for the remaining areas of the house. Our cladding has been installed internally as well as in a mixed width detail on the verandah and porch. Carefully matched to the cedar milled from the site’s own trees, our cedar cladding creates a cohesive appearance, while allowing the homegrown timber to remain at the heart of the story.
"Clients are interested in the provenance of products and want to use materials in their homes that make a difference. We know that Vastern Timber is not a faceless company selling wood from anywhere, but timber specialists who manufacture locally grown timber."
Exciting News!
In addition to the beauty of the project, The Old Orchard has been shortlisted for the Architects’ Journal Retrofit and Reuse Awards 2026.
We will be keeping everything crossed for Gresford Architects and this project, good luck team!
Thinking about cedar cladding for your own project?
We love the story and completed look of this project. If you are interested in incorporating British Western Red Cedar into your own build, for the inside, or outside of your home, we’d be pleased to discuss the options. Contact our team to find out how cedar can bring warmth, character and lasting performance to your project.
PROJECT DETAILS
Timber
External Cladding: Clients own
Internal, Porch and Verandah Cladding: British Western Red Cedar
Architect
Tom Gresford
Gresford Architects
Photography
French and Tye
