Captiva Homes
Residential Development
Isle of Wight
Timber Frame Design, Structural Timber Manufacture
The vision for the Highwood Grove housing development was to go against the grain of traditional new builds. Captiva Homes wanted to create elegant, smarter and lower-carbon family homes that offered generous living spaces, high ceilings and up to four double bedrooms.
Beyond the architectural requirements, the primary challenge was achieving an exceptional level of environmental performance. The developer aimed to set a new benchmark for sustainable house building on the Island. This meant the construction method had to support local biosphere goals, protect the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and facilitate rewilding efforts such as built-in bat boxes and hedgehog highways, all while accelerating the overall housing delivery schedule.
To meet these demanding sustainability and scheduling targets, Sydenhams Timber Engineering was appointed to design and manufacture the timber frame structures for the development.
By taking the core structure off-site, we provided the speed required to accelerate the build programme. Our precision engineering offered the architectural flexibility needed to easily accommodate the large, open living spaces and high ceilings. Crucially, our structural timber solutions delivered the exceptional thermal efficiency required to help the properties meet strict sustainability standards, utilising low embodied carbon materials to build a highly insulated structural envelope.
The Highwood Grove development successfully delivers high-quality homes at pace with real environmental value. The properties achieved outstanding SAP A-ratings, providing families with comfortable, low-carbon living spaces.
The project highlights the success of our collaborative approach. Iain Delaney, Chief Executive of Captiva Homes, explained: “We want to set a new benchmark for sustainable house building on the Island. Supporting the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, biosphere goals and rewilding while accelerating housing delivery.”
Dean Orchard, our Managing Director, added: “Projects like this show what timber frame can achieve in delivering high-quality homes at pace, with real environmental value. It is great to work with forward-thinking clients like Captiva who are raising the bar for housing on the Island.”