Timber Engineering in Scotland

Some useful links about timber construction in Scotland
www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/46910/0030658.pdf

Napier University
Pasted here is an undated document (but very well written) from Napier University which is developing some very interesting research under the guidance of Peter Wilson I think.

The Centre for Timber Engineering has been in existence at Edinburgh’s Napier University for a little less than thirty months, yet in that short time it has established its presence - and its value to the construction industry - in a number of ways. The Centre was founded initially with support from the forestry and timber sectors in response to two problems which prevented wider use of timber as a primary structural component in buildings - the limited knowledge of timber design among the country’s civil and structural engineers and the lack of training available in this particular field in any UK university engineering course. In addition to this, a profound ignorance existed amongst construction professionals of the properties of UK-grown timbers and the potential to use these materials in preference to imported products whose origins and credentials for sustainable design are often less than clear.

The Centre has addressed these challenges via the three-part route of education, research and knowledge transfer. In the area of education, new custom-designed training programmes have been put in place, and its undergraduate BSc in Timber Engineering is the only course of its type in the country. Two new Masters degrees have been created - an MSc in Timber Engineering for those who have a first degree in engineering, and an MSc in Timber Industry Management for professionals whose background is not in construction but who wish to develop their skills and career path within the forestry and timber sectors. Both of the Masters courses are available as part-time options, making them eminently suitable as Continuing Professional Development programmes leading to valuable qualifications. The Centre is currently developing all its degrees so that they can be accessed online, and this EU funded work is a key plank in fulfilling its remit to train more engineers in timber design.

In parallel with these initiatives are the Centre for TImber Engineering’s research activities - projects designed to aid understanding of different species of wood and to find better uses for them in construction. This work ranges from the world of wood science to exposure tests on differing types of timber cladding. One of the largest grants ever awarded by the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council was directed to a multi-institutional team led by the Centre for Timber Engineering to explore the properties of Sitka spruce as a first step towards identifying economically viable uses for the most sizeable part of the UK’s forest resource, and an important way, potentially, of reducing the huge amounts of softwood imported into the UK each year.
Much of the timber used in Scotland is hidden within domestic timber frame structures, but wood has become increasingly fashionable with designers for use as external cladding. Our weather is very different from other parts of the UK, and indeed is more akin to the maritime conditions to be found in British Columbia and Norway. Horizontally driven rain can have a significant deleterious effect on different types of timber cladding as well as on the longevity of the particular woods being used and the Centre for Timber Engineering is currently undertaking a number of site tests in extremely exposed locations around the west of Scotland. This work - which is due to be completed later this year - will for the first time produce the data and the details to help designers and contractors better understand the conditions necessary for timber cladding to work effectively and to build better as a result.

But it is not only timber’s scientific properties and its use in existing construction systems that is being researched at the Centre for Timber Engineering - new products for use in the building industry are also being developed, such as the new ‘Composite Insulated Beam’ which comprises timber flanges and double webs of OSB insulated with a rigid infill of urethane or expanded polystyrene in a sandwich construction. An important benefit of the product is its ability to make use of relatively low grade timber such as Sitka spruce to produce a highly engineered product in a section of the market currently restricted to imported materials.
Helping industry become more efficient and more profitable through access to academic knowledge and resources is the philosophy which underlies the DTI’s concept of ‘Knowledge Transfer Partnerships’, and which provides around 60% financial support for suitable projects. Under the programme companies can secure up to 60% financial support for their project, and to date the Centre has collaborated with sawmilling operations, timber frame manufacturers and product suppliers on a range of projects designed to have substantial financial benefit to the companies involved.
A new director will shortly be appointed to lead the Centre for TImber Engineering into the next stage of its development, but its activities will remain firmly focused on responding to industry needs and in creating new markets for timber in construction.

Peter Wilson is Director of Business Development at the Centre for Timber Engineering