Breaking Down Barriers to Timber Frame

Thanks to advances in fire retardant technology, timber now presents exciting opportunities in sustainable construction, says Ian King, chief operating officer (COO) at Zeroignition.

The construction industry uses approximately half of all non-renewable resources mankind consumes, making it one of the least sustainable industries in the world. In the UK alone the built environment is responsible for 25% of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions, which are emitted at every stage of the construction and use cycle.

As the climate crisis accelerates, there is an urgent need for the industry to be exploring ways to reduce its detrimental impact on the planet. Buildings and the cities they’re located in are a non-negotiable for modern civilisation and they have long lifespans, often spanning multiple generations. So how can the construction industry adapt its building processes to ensure that the structures we build today will benefit both communities and the planet in years to come? In my mind, there are undeniable benefits to bringing timber frame construction back to the fore in the UK. This is a building method that remains popular in North America particularly where according to the National Association of Home Builders around 90% of homes built in 2019 were wood-framed. Time magazine summed this up well reporting the US is ‘stubbornly attached to timber’ and it’s one of the few places in the world where wood is the dominant material used in new-home construction. Here in the UK, the use of timber is on the rise. MTW research found that timber construction is set to grow rapidly throughout 2022 as demand from housebuilders and commercial timber frame construction projects increases. The report estimates the timber frame market will rise by more than £150 million by 2026, demonstrating industry professionals increasing confidence to consider specifying timber.

Scoping out the barriers

Zero-carbon construction is a hot topic that continues to dominate the industry. There’s a huge amount of discussion around the benefits of using timber products in the place of concrete and steel when embarking on a building project thanks to timbers carbon locking properties both in its time as a living tree, and when it’s used as a building material. At Zeroignition we’re huge advocates for timber frame construction, yet we know there are barriers preventing the industry from using it. Why? For starters, there’s a definite lack of education surrounding getting hold of the right timber materials in construction and using these products in the correct way. Ensuring a robust supply chain takes a huge amount of forward-planning to guarantee the needs of the UK’s construction industry. For me, however, the psychological barrier that “wood burns so it must be dangerous” is the real blocker.

This isn’t a perception that’s usually applied to materials like steel and concrete commonly favoured by the UK. While there’s no denying fire is a devastating force, and unprotected timber does burn, steel does melt, and concrete does degrade in a fire. Ultimately, these long-standing misconceptions around fire performance have limited the use of timber in construction in the UK. It’s time these were addressed head-on.

Timber, the environmental saviour

The benefits of building with timber are myriad. It accelerates construct timeframes and is structurally sound: it regulates internal temperatures and reduces waste during its lifetime; but most importantly, it provides the required fire protection. When the correct legislation is 

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followed, good design, and a hefty helping of common sense, there is no reason why timber cannot be as safe in a fire as other materials. Wood even has the potential to be safer than other methods of construction with the optimum choice of fire treatment, profiles and species. Non-toxic fire retardants are available, and awareness of their abilities needs to be increased, so that specifiers can build safer and more sustainably, particularly regarding the use of timber. As research into specialist chemical technology for fire-safe building materials continues, its crucial leaders within the construction industry maintain the drive for safer solutions.

Looking forward

Significant investment is being pumped into R&D. We’ve witnessed this first hand, and it’s playing a major role in making buildings more fire safe and sustainable. It’s only right that the sector is seeking eco-friendly building materials. What’s needed is a more robust understanding of how these work when incorporated into a build, to ensure all vulnerabilities are designed out.

More at  www.zeroignition.com

 Fire safety meets style in new Liverpool materials lab

Sustainability-focused retail company, All the Shapes Tile & Co (ATS), is focusing on fire-safe timber construction at a new site in the heart of Liverpool. To achieve this goal, the impressive 9000sq ft ‘Materials Lab’, which serves as ATS’s main showroom, will feature attractive and safe display areas, built using MEDITE SMARTPLY’s innovative SMARTPLY MAX FR B panels, powered by Zeroignition. Not only will these fire-resistant wooden structures protect the hard work of company director James Lambert, but they’ll also protect the many customers and workers on site whilst delivering the style and sophistication synonymous with ATS.

This ambitious project will see the entire interior clad with SMARTPLY MAX FR B, integrated with Zeroignition non-toxic flameretardant solution, as well as a new partition wall using the same material, to separate the warehouse storage space and the showroom. Importantly, this will help to provide an attractive aesthetic while delivering effective protection against fire damage. Almost two hundred 18mm boards of SMARTPLY MAX FR B were specified on the project, covering a sizeable area of 540m2, providing essential strength, moisture-resistance and fireretardant properties. The Zeroignition solution, crucial to making the material fire retardant, is applied to the wood-based panels during manufacture, ensuring the timber is protected throughout the entire depth of the panel, not just the surface layer. Under the European standard EN13501-1, the resilient panels have an impressive reaction to fire classification of B-s2, d0 and bfl-s1 (flooring). Thus, they not only have a very limited contribution to fire, but contractors and architects can also easily specify the materials for projects.

Furthermore, a core feature of Zeroignition’s fire retardant solution is its non-toxic property, making it perfect for commercial and retail settings. The panels used for the ATS site have been produced using FSC-certified timber with no added formaldehyde and are fully CARB2 compliant. In addition to being fire safe, these materials are more environmentally friendly and risk fewer health hazards. Ian King, Zeroignition’s COO said: “It is promising to see fire safety prioritised within new regeneration projects such as the ATS site. We are pleased to see timber is, once again, becoming a more popular choice of material in the construction industry too, particularly in commercial and retail applications. We are huge advocates for timber construction, and it is time to address the barriers surrounding fire safety. The journey to creating a fire retardant product as robust as this has taken years of research, development and extensive testing, but it’s a small price to pay for safety.”

More at  www.zeroignition.com

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