The Living Oak Story
Living Oak was born in 2010 when our founder, Stuart MacArthur’s, passion for creating oak frame spaces – which bring families together and evokes emotional wellbeing at home – came to fruition. Stuart first felt this phenomenon when he extended his own home with an oak frame. Subsequently, he found his understanding of the tangible emotional benefits he and his family had experienced was also something felt by his clients as he worked on various development projects with them. This led Stuart to bring his idea of Living Oak to life. The company is a thriving example of how the passion of one can expand and touch the lives of many, creating harmony in their living spaces.
Living Oak designs, supplies and builds amazing spaces in oak frame. Relying heavily on our client’s vision, our designs are fun, informal spaces that move away from stereotypical modern buildings and offer a direct alternative to the uniform, sterile boxes offered by modern house builders.
Our buildings use minimal amounts of oak incorporated within the structure, standing strongly within the ethos of ‘less is more’. Imagine if you will, a building overcrowded with one particular feature, in this case oak, the WOW factor of this beautiful natural structure gets lost and becomes overbearing, At Living Oak we design frames that work with their surrounding materials and textures, which, together with the right proportion of oak framing creates homes with a dramatic spatial quality, delighting, inspiring and evoking emotional feelings of wellbeing and connection to each other and to nature.
We strongly believe that buildings shape the way people interact with each other, we are passionate and excited to offer you the opportunity to create a home that positively affects you on a day to day basis. You know that ‘gut feeling’ when something is right. We are here to help you create that feeling in your living space. We will help you create a stunning oak framed building that benefits your wellbeing, which delights your eyes and gives you an unspoken connection to our natural world. Yes, this may sound woo woo, for a building company, but we know this happens, our clients tell us so.
That is why we are different and that is why we will deliver something special for you.
"We were very impressed with the high standard of work, communication and conscientious attitude of all the people involved with our oak framed extension built by Living Oak. We would not hesitate to recommend the company"
"I have been delighted to work with Living Oak. From the outset their design advice was excellent and they really helped us think through what we wanted to achieve with our budget. The oak frame itself is quite magnificent, providing a stunning family living space on the back of our home. I would highly recommend Living Oak!"
At Living Oak, we take pride in being a small ’boutique’ company which achieves great things. We specialise in the design and construction of bespoke, oak-framed luxury extensions, homes and garden buildings. Designs can be traditional, modern, or a blend of the two. We can also design and supply the oak frame only – ideal for self-builds.