Our newest recruit, Elise O’ Donovan, joins us from a structural engineering firm in London. Elise will be undertaking both civil and structural engineering design within the Chichester Office.
Before joining Archibald Shaw, her interest in sustainable design and natural building materials led her to take a working holiday on sustainable building projects across the UK and in Denmark. One of the projects included a new holiday home in Sidlesham, which was constructed by local roundwood timber framer Artizans of Wood.
During her time on site, she worked on the construction of the roof frame and an internal high-level walkway, as well as installing straw bale insulation.
Elise joined the project through a natural building volunteering network. Coincidentally the Civil and Structural Engineer was Archibald Shaw. The article below illustrates a little more on our involvement on this project.
Greenacres
The new-build timber holiday home was designed by architect Valerie Hind.
Archibald Shaw designed foundations to support the roundwood timber frame above the relatively weak subsoil, as well as designing naturally free draining external permeable surfaces.
The chestnut members of the main structural frame were erected in the summer. The straw bales sourced from a local farm form the perimeter walls which were plastered in lime and completed in the Autumn.
