Timber structures Timber frame
Structural timber: delivering quality and sustainability assurances The Committee on Climate Change has advised the Government to use the coronavirus crisis as a catalyst for reducing the construction industry’s carbon emissions and called for ministers to seize the opportunity to make the industry greener. Andrew Carpenter discusses how structural timber systems can help the UK construction industry deliver both quality and sustainability assurances.
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he world has woken up to the detrimental impact that we are having on the planet. Now is the time to invest in building in timber for not only safeguarding the environment and reaching net zero carbon targets, but also to deliver predictability of quality and performance. This is a massive opportunity for the UK to make a sizable change and opt for more sustainable building technologies. There is now real positivity around our sector. Structural timber systems are acknowledged as one of the optimum construction solutions in the battle to reduce carbon emissions.
Foundations for timber frame structures can be built at a lower cost and less environmental impact due to the lightweight nature of the structure. Photo: Stewart Milne
Reducing carbon emissions Trees are at the heart of the climate change debate. Once carbon sequestration was a natural phenomenon only understood by scientists, but this has changed and terms such as ‘carbon sink’ are commonly used in construction. Commercially managed woodlands sequester a third more carbon dioxide than wild forests – so the growing of timber for use in construction is vital in the battle to reduce carbon emissions.
Build process Modern timber frame structures are precision-engineered, strong and durable. The build method relies on a factory-manufactured timber frame as a means of structural support – carrying the loads imposed by the floors and roofs – before transmitting them to the foundations. The foundations for timber frame structures can be built at a lower cost and less environmental impact due to the lightweight nature of the structure. www.trada.co.uk
Timber frame construction uses factory-manufactured wall panels, floor panels and roof panels. The systems used are classified as either open panel, closed panel or structural insulated panels (SIPS). In open panel timber frame structures, the open panel system provides the structural frame, to which site-installed insulation, services and plasterboard elements are added. In closed panel timber frame buildings, the structural frame is the same as an ‘open panel’ construction, but includes factory-fitted insulation and inner sheathing boards to close off the panel. Finally, the SIPs building method uses timber panels, which are bonded to insulation to provide structural strength.
Progress Around three quarters of all new homes in Scotland are built using structural timber, but England is lagging behind with just a quarter of all new homes being built using structural timber. >> Timber 2021 Industry Yearbook
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