Taking good care

One of the UK’s leading care home development and building companies, Castleoak, which also has its own timber frame manufacturing division, has been making extensive use of Finnforest’s Kerto LVL because of its versatility and ease of use.

In the most recent instance, Castleoak Timber Frame has incorporated the engineered timber product in the construction of a new care home at Mollington, near Chester, where Kerto serves to create ring beams and to distribute loadings, areas that might otherwise require steelwork.

“We use Kerto in a variety of instances within our construction process,” said Neil Robins, operations director for Castleoak Timber Frame. “This is because Kerto is widely versatile and can be used in the form of posts to transfer point loads through the structure, and also as purlins, beams and for rim boards.

“Over the last few years we have used Kerto to take the place of other beams which previously would have been fabricated in steel. We find it to be a much more user-friendly product, as changes can be adopted quickly on site, without the need for specialist cutting and drilling equipment. Kerto also fits well with our environmental and sustainability profile, as it carries full PEFC certification.”