We won’t be able to enjoy our beautiful gardens if we don’t look after our planet. That’s why being a sustainable, environmentally friendly company is integral to the Paterson Garden Buildings ethos.
Our commitment to sustainability is twofold – we design eco-conscious garden buildings, and we ensure our day-to-day practices keep our carbon footprint as low as possible. In this blog, we will first look at the elements required to create an eco-friendly timber garden building, and then we will tell you how we use biomass and solar panels in our processes.
What Makes Our Garden Buildings Eco-Friendly?
We pride ourselves in offering our customers environmentally-conscious garden rooms, summerhouses, and a wide range of garden buildings. Creating sustainable structures depends on the materials we build with and the quality of the buildings.
Terrific Timber
Did you know that timber is one of the most sustainable building materials you can use for construction? The majority of our garden buildings are built using timber. So why is timber so great?
- Timber is a renewable building material that is sourced from sustainably managed forests. Timber can be harvested without depleting the resource, ensuring a continuous supply, while maintaining the health of the forest ecosystem.
- Timber production uses significantly less energy when compared to other construction materials such as steel or concrete. Therefore, using timber reduces the carbon footprint of construction projects.
- Timber is biodegradable, meaning that it will break down into harmless organic components at the end of its life cycle i.e. it won’t pollute the environment in the way plastics do.
- Because timber is so light, transportation is easier than other heavier materials. This reduces petrol consumption.
- Being light means timber is also easy to use when constructing a building, again reducing the need for gas guzzling-machinery.
Other Building Materials
We often use pinewood for elements of our garden buildings, another sustainable wood. This is because pine trees grow quickly, maturing within 30 years, making replanting pine trees an effective way of maintaining forests.
We sometimes use cedar or larch as an alternative to pine wood – this is usually down to customer preference. Both woods are biodegradable, recyclable, and require less energy to manufacture when compared to materials such as steel.
Our panelling is built with MDF, another sustainable wood product made of wood fibre, wood shavings and other parts of the wood that would otherwise be discarded.
All of these wood products are extremely durable and long-lasting. The lifespan of a building is an important factor in protecting the environment – the longer it can stand without needing extensive repairs, the lower the carbon footprint of the structure. We build our garden rooms to withstand the wet and windy Scottish winters, and that starts with choosing the right materials.
Insulation and uPVC
One of the most important factors when choosing a garden room is considering the quality of the insulation. Our superior insulation keeps your energy usage down, helping the environment and lowering your household bills. We use highly effective 30mm Kingspan insulation in our garden rooms.
Our windows and doors are built using uPVC, another great way to keep the heat in, and energy usage low thanks to its low thermal conductivity. uPVC is easy to maintain, can be recycled, and has a lifespan of up to 50 years. All of this adds up to a great option for those looking for an energy-efficient garden building.
Quality at Every Stage
Poorly built structures need regular repairs – this means more production and more energy used to maintain the structure. One way you can ensure your garden room is environmentally friendly is by choosing a supplier that offers high-quality, long-lasting garden buildings.
At Paterson Garden Buildings, our ethos is to build up to standard, not down to price. This means we design garden rooms, summer houses, sheds, and greenhouses that will last for decades.
Of course, it is important that you maintain your garden building. Always follow guidance on painting your timber, cleaning gutters and looking after your doors and windows. We recommend repainting your building every two years, clearing your gutters annually, and cleaning windows and doors regularly to keep mould at bay. We are always on hand to answer questions about maintaining your garden building.
Our Sustainable Processes
So what else makes our business sustainable? We don’t simply focus on our products, we also examine our everyday business practices to ensure we are reducing our carbon footprint at every opportunity.
Biomass Boiler
In 2012 we made our first big step to reduce our carbon footprint. We installed a biomass boiler, which can be used to recycle all of the wood waste from our workshop. A biomass boiler uses natural materials instead of fossil fuels to create heat.
The energy produced by our biomass boiler is used to heat owner Gary’s home and our on-site shop. We manage all of our own waste and turn it into renewable energy.
Biomass Boilers are an excellent way to process waste, because not only does it reduce our use of fossil fuels, but it also reduces the energy consumption associated with transporting waste. Even when we recycle biodegradable materials like timber, we have to use petrol to get it to the recycling centre. By installing our own Biomass Boiler, we cut out this step and do it all on-site.
Solar Panels
In 2023 we made another huge step in reducing our carbon footprint by installing a 100kw solar panel system. Our solar panels capture enough energy to run our workshop, our office, and Gary’s house, meaning all three buildings are now totally self-sufficient.
We then installed a battery stack and additional panels in 2024 to ensure that we were self-sufficient throughout after dark. We also added further panels to our workshop’s roof and our wood shed – taking us now up to 480 x 500 kw panels!
Not only are we creating enough energy to run our own business and Gary’s home, but we are now supplying thousands of kilowatts to the grid every month. We are very proud to be a part of Scotland’s renewable energy efforts. It feels great to know that we are powering lights, toasters, and TVs in other homes!
Build Your Dream Sustainable Garden Building
If you are considering building a garden room, but are feeling a little uncertain about the impact on the environment, we hope this blog has helped you understand just how environmentally friendly Paterson Garden Buildings are.
Every summer house, stable, shed, and sauna we build is created to the highest standards, meaning it will stand the test of time, reducing the need for costly maintenance and repairs, and keeping your carbon footprint low. We create structures that are well-insulated so that you spend less on household bills and can feel good about using less energy.
We regularly review our supply chain to ensure we are purchasing the most sustainable materials for your garden room, and we recycle any offcuts we don’t use on-site.
Since 2012, we have been investing in renewable technologies to ensure our office and workshop have a positive impact on the environment.
Discover our range of garden buildings today and book a visit to our show village today. It’s time to enjoy your dream, eco-friendly garden building!