WOMEN RAISING THE ROOF

In timber engineering specifically, the recruitment of more female designers is already making its mark. This became apparent in our inaugural TRA Roofscape Design Awards earlier this year. In those awards, which seek to recognise and reward the ingenuity and technical skills of designers in this sector, two of the three winners were female.

Sue Darbyshire is the Design Manager at Donaldson Timber Engineering, and her award-winning project was for a new care home in Canterbury. The purpose-built care home accommodates 67 residents and has a complex mechanical and electrical (M&E) component which included plant that needed to be concealed from view. The roof had to be designed to facilitate the installation of the plant while allowing the external roof envelope to be covered. It also needed to allow easy access for future maintenance.

A growing number of women are choosing careers in timber engineering design and manufacturing. This is great news for the construction industry, which has long complained about a skills shortage and still struggles in many areas to attract a more diverse workforce. In 2019, women made up just 12% of the country’s construction workers – a figure the industry is working to improve. In the new Industry Skills Plan from the Construction Leadership Council, a strong focus is being placed on promoting increased diversity, equality and inclusion.

Sue opted for a ‘half attic’ style of trussed rafter design to meet these requirements, incorporating vertical wall members into the truss design. This solution also reduced construction time on-site and made hiding the M&E plant within the roof structure easier. One of the other key challenges of this project was to reduce working at height risks during construction. Sue’s design incorporated the necessary falls to a large flat roof area, significantly reducing the site-fixed firring timbers required during construction. This helped minimise any working at height risks and provided a more efficient and streamlined construction process.

Despite the building’s irregular size, shape, steps, and staggers, Sue’s design skilfully catered for these complexities. By carefully considering every aspect of the roof structure’s design, Sue created a solution that met the client’s requirements while providing significant cost and time savings during construction.

As the judges commented, Sue achieved a highly innovative roof design, the most complex of all the entries received in all categories. It was a winning combination of design expertise and creative thinking. Sue is a role model for other women in the industry, starting work as a buyer for a building company but then deciding to retrain as a trussed roof designer and now celebrating over 25 years in that role.

Sue said: “This project appealed to me because I enjoy the problem solving and looking at the amount of creativity that can be brought to a roofscape despite existing planning constraints. In today’s care homes, where there is so much equipment that needs to be incorporated, and the need to achieve maximum usage from within the roof space, it is essential to adapt a roof design to suit customer requirements. The skill is arriving at a design that pleases customers and manufacturing depots.”

Tabitha Binding, Centre for Advanced Timber Technology (CATT) lead for external engagements and partnerships at NMITE says, the industry should be learning from these women’s experiences and listening to what they have to say about making better routes into the industry. “Climate change is upon us, and we must transition to more lowcarbon materials such as timber,” says Tabitha. “However, most professional education courses do not teach how to design or build using timber. To address this issue, NMITE has a Timber TED course that is developed by the industry and delivered at NMITE’s Skylon Campus. Our roofing and timber frame businesses need more skilled employees. Women can fill these positions and increase the employee pool by 50%. The industry needs fresh ideas, and opportunities are available for those working towards it. It is time for the industry to promote the change we want to see.” www.tra.org.uk

IMAGES:

01. CATT is helping to facilitate an influx of women into the timber design field

02. Sue Darbyshire’s winning roofscape

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