Stacks of long wooden boards and narrow mouldings stored upright between vertical wooden spacers in a lumberyard or workshop

Our Materials

Our Materials

All our greenhouses use a combination of timber and aluminium. Accoya framework supports a maintenance-free aluminium roof, achieving an authentically period-looking structure that will last a lifetime.
    • Stacked wooden beams with smooth milled ends showing grain patterns and rectangular notches for joinery.
    • Stacked cut timber blocks and angled wood pieces in a workshop with tools and lumber racks in the background.

    Accoya®

    We use Accoya wood to produce the main framework of our greenhouses with exceptional results in terms of performance and looks. It is manufactured using a proprietary acetylation process to create a non-toxic, high performance wood product. The modification process chemically alters the wood’s free hydroxyls into stable acetyl groups. This means the ability of the wood to absorb water is greatly reduced, rendering Accoya dimensionally stable and extremely durable.

    Swelling and shrinkage is reduced by 75%. It is guaranteed for 50 years above ground with a minimum service life of 70 years, and it’s ideal for paint: it’s improved stability meaning coatings last twice as long. Sustainably sourced and more environmentally friendly than other materials, it actively removes CO2 over its life cycle.-

    • Stacked aluminium extrusions and rectangular hollow profiles stored on a workshop shelf, seen close-up.
    • Hands guiding a metal strip under a drill press as the drill bit bores a hole, with metal shavings around the work area.

    Aluminium

    With such a compelling case for the timber we use, both from a performance and environmental perspective, why do we continue to use aluminium in the roof? The simple answer is maintenance. Despite an unbeatable coating lifetime performance when the right paint is applied in the right way to Accoya, there will be some maintenance at some point, and especially with larger structures, this can be a daunting task.

    Aluminium is one of the world’s most abundant elements and highly recyclable. Durable, strong, light and almost maintenance-free (clean dead leaves off now and then), it is the perfect material for a long-lasting roof structure and it’s this maintenance-free roof combined with the traditional painted timber frames that is unique to us.

    • Rows of freshly painted white wooden doors and panels standing upright and hanging to dry in a workshop with tiled walls.
    • Worker wearing a respirator and gloves spray-painting a long white metal beam in a dusty workshop.

    Paint

    We use a high quality, low-VOC paint system designed to withstand the harshest climates and protect from UV light, rain, humidity, cold, and heat. Specially developed for compatibility with Accoya and independently tested, Teknos paints come with an up to 12-year recoating warranty, which means less of a maintenance headache as well as contributing to the overall longevity of the greenhouse.

    In alignment with us Teknos also place sustainability at the heart of their activities, constantly seeking to reduce VOC levels, increase durability, phase out hazardous ingredients, reduce resource depletion, improve air quality and recycle raw materials.

    • Brushed brass door handle and rose lying on wood shavings with two loose screws in foreground, blurred doors in background
    • Brushed brass lever handle and rectangular backplate with visible screws on a white door, blurred wood slats in background

    Ironmongery

    Established in 1868, our supplier relies on 5 generations of skill and experience to make the finest architectural hardware. Our choice of lever handle is cast from solid brass and then hand-finished, polished, and left unlacquered to allow the patina to develop from natural oxidisation. It’s a classic, elegant design with a nod to the geometry that underpins every White Cottage greenhouse.

    Whilst the unlacquered finish will become dull and darken over time, if left untouched, it’s very easy to bring it back to its original sheen with a cloth, a metal polish, and a little elbow grease. If you live in a more exposed, coastal location, you may need to do this a little more often, but the hardware will last for generations to come.