Kiiking is a sport peculiar to Estonia. It is basically extreme swinging, where an individual is fastened to a swing base by their feet, and then, through a mixture of pumping and squatting, gains enough momentum to take the telescoping swing through 360°. The winner is the person who can swing across the spindle with the longest swing arms.

Exciting as it sounds, it’s unlikely to take off in the UK. However, the exclusive UK distributor of an Estonian brand of custom-made prefabricated timber frame houses is hoping it will have more success. Newark-based Portend has been working with Matek and its timber frame houses since August last year, talking with developers and housing associations about the benefits of one of Estonia’s best-kept secrets.

“Matek has been building predominantly timber frame houses since 1998,” said Portend’s Mathew Clarke. “The company operates all over Europe, although it’s never really broken into the UK.”

To date, there have been only two Matek houses built here, both in Nottinghamshire. The houses, like those in Estonia, are very much modelled on Scandinavian and American New England dwellings. However, as Clarke explained, because of the way the Matek houses are built, they are very flexible in terms of cladding. “They can look like anything,” he said, “although the main thing about them is they’re timber framed and that it’s all assembled in the factory.”

House assembly
Matek carries out all assembly work in its factory in Pärnu, 130km south of the Estonian capital, Tallinn. Its existing factory has a production area of 6,500m² and produces around 400 houses or 60,000m² of elements per year. However, by the end of this year, Matek will have constructed and moved into a new purpose-built factory on a site next to its existing premises. The new 32,320m² premises will double annual production.

It’s an impressive set-up, and one that is proving increasingly popular among European developers. One such project was a series of houses on a marina development in Norway. Built in 2007-2008, they were constructed using plane elements – fully-finished sections of a building, assembled in the factory. The wall elements consisted of a timber frame, insulation, a moisture barrier, weatherboarding, a second lighter frame into which conduits for electrical cabling are
installed, windows and doors.

Final exterior cladding was then added. Matek makes a concerted effort to fit as much cladding as possible in the factory if timber is specified. Boards can be mounted in place of timber cladding if the client wishes to plaster exterior walls. “It really depends on what is requested,” said Clarke.

The wall elements can be built to a maximum of 7.2m in length and 2.9m in height while the thickness varies depending on their construction. The roof trusses and the roof panels are also assembled in the factory. The trusses vary in length and height according to designs but can be built to a maximum length of 22m and are joined with Gang-Nail plates. The roof panels consist of cross beams, a vapour barrier, weatherproofing and insulation, with a maximum length of 9m and maximum width of 2.9m. Again, the thickness varies depending on the construction.

Build speed
Speed of erection is one of the main selling points for Matek. “We’re using a three-bedroom dormer house as a case study, which is a popular model in Estonia,” said Clarke. “This can be built in a week, providing the foundations for the house are there already. External windows and doors are pre-installed in the factory as well, which also helps to speed up the whole process.”

The wall elements can be built to a maximum of 7.2m long and 2.9m high

The cost of the houses is in the region of £591/m² (although this is just the price for the kit).

Key target markets for Portend and the Matek houses include private residential, developers and housing associations.
“Rather than just trying to push these houses, we’re also trying to show that this technology is available – and that it is beneficial,” said Clarke. “I consider it better than traditional brick and block building, because it is more economical, comparable in terms of cost, but it is much quicker in terms of build time.”

All the elements for the houses will be shipped into the UK on a job-by-job basis, with the turnaround from placing an order to getting the elements to site in the UK likely to be around two to three weeks.

“The houses aren’t limited in terms of their design – our designers will work to a client’s specifications as much as possible,” said Clarke. “The only way they are limited is that we can only build up to four storeys. There are also some limitations in terms of room sizes, although they will still be larger than your average family-sized living room. We can design the house pretty much to what you want it to be, or you can choose from the pre-designed selection on the website.”

Clarke expects that, in the main, UK contractors will be used to erect the houses, because of the cost implications, although Matek is able to send over a team to put the buildings together. “Ideally, we’d like our preferred contractors to spend some time with Matek specialists initially so they can learn how to put the houses together.”

By his own admission, Clarke said the reception so far has been mixed. “Some still want to use traditional techniques, but there are others who are considering using what we’re offering and looking to move into using timber frame systems more and more. We hope that within the next 18 months we will see a few houses go up. But it does seem sometimes that it will be quite a long time to change people’s mindset.”

But, when it comes to green credentials, Clarke is convinced the Matek homes more than measure up. “We haven’t had any formal survey carried out on them so far – this is one thing we are really keen to get done as soon as one is built,” he said. “However, they have a similar system in Estonia. When I was last over, I saw a primary school that had been built using the Matek system and it was the equivalent of an A-rated building.”

Windows and doors are installed in the factory

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