Pennysland Cottage

Pennysland cottage is a refurbished property on the Dumfries House estate in East Ayrshire. It was refurbished as part of the Building Craft Programme during 2020 while the rest of the estate was in lockdown. The Building Craft Programme supports those woking in the construction sector to push their skills to the next level and continue on their journey to becoming thee next generation of master craftspeople. It is a full time, 8-month course which gives practical experience in traditional building skills and the opportunity to work towards a Level 3 NVQ in Heritage Skills.

This year’s Live Build project was the insertion of a traditional oak cruck timber frame into an existing stone cottage, with external kennels erected out of blockwork and sandstone, repairs to the existing cottage, and two roofs. This was the extent of the work required from the students on the course during their four months on site. To read more about the programme, click the link below.

Involvement

Building on previous oak timber framing experience, I was part of a six man team building a three bay cruck frame to be fitted inside an existing stone cottage. 

I worked on the site layout, using my previous experience in architecture to check architects drawings, and amend them to the timber available, and check sizes. I worked on in-situ mockup frame, layups, joints, scribing, dressing, and erection.

I was also involved in creating the roof for both the cottage and the kennels from scratch, sarking and sheeting them.

It was really nice to be involved in various different micro projects, and so good to be back on timber framing again.