A young apprentice has a bright future ahead of him after working with a Sandwich timber frame company.

Jack Smith, 18, is a sixth form student at Sir Roger Manwood’s School and has been working with OFP Timber Frame, in Sandwich Industrial Estate, on a project for his A Level product design.

Jack, who lives in Stodmarsh near Canterbury was graded an A* for his model of a timber frame home.

He has been working with the company for the last few months and as a result has even been offered work experience in the future.

Jack said: “I got very good feedback from the company.

“I just like the process of thinking of an idea and then seeing it materialised into a real building.”

“It’s a 3-D model so that the customers and clients can see the model from all angles. It will help the company show what the benefits are and how the timber frame is constructed, and so it will help people to visualise what the timber frame will look like and it shows the benefits over brick and block construction.”

Jack wants to go on and study architecture at degree level after finishing school.

He added: “I just like the process of thinking of an idea and then seeing it materialised into a real building.”

OFP Timber Frames designs and manufactures timber frame housing which is more environmentally friendly, efficient, fast and cost-effective.

Neil Brennan, the company’s director, said: “He’s a fantastic 18 year old and he’s put months of work into this.

“Structurally he has obviously done his homework and research. If we built it, it wouldn’t fall down.”

Mr Brennan explained that some models may look right but in real-life the structure might not be viable.

He added that he would be able to use Jack’s model within the company.

OFP Timber Frame is keen to work with local people and young students in the area and build on this relationship.

The director added: “Timber is a growing industry with it being sustainable, the more people we can help the better and we hope it will all come back and they will want timber frames in the future.”

For more information visit the website by clicking here: www.ofptimberframe.com.