News: industry updates A year of change

A year of change

Spotlight on 2021 activities and initiatives.

Llanbedr – affordable timber housing in Wales Photo: Willams Homes

Post-Brexit legislative change

The UK Construction Products Regulation (UK CPR) – the new regulatory framework for construction products following the UK’s departure from the EU – came into effect on 1 January 2021, with recognition of the CE mark to cease in Great Britain by the end of the year.

However, the Government confirmed in August that businesses will have an extra year to start using UKCA marking, the new product safety marking in the UK. This enables CE-marked goods to continue being placed on the market in Great Britain until 1 January 2023 where businesses were due to begin using the UKCA marking by the end of 2021, including for construction products.

Technical advice

It is imperative that those involved with construction products – including manufacturers and importers – understand their new obligations. To aid this transition, BM TRADA has provided an overview of the new UKCA marking requirements in a new free technical bulletin – launched initially in February, and further updated in spring 2022 to reflect the legislative changes mentioned above. See page 145 for an extract from this bulletin. >>

Brand-new guidance on timber and carbon is also due to be published in spring 2022 and will be available to buy from the BM TRADA Bookshop. Part of the Wood Information Sheet series, WIS 2/3-72 Carbon and timber in construction for building designers is a timely in-depth review of all the complex issues around the subject, and provides holistic guidance on whole-life carbon calculations and how to minimise carbon emissions in the built environment.

Another imminent publication is the Research Summary Crosslaminated timber and moisture, which outlines the findings of extensive research undertaken by BM TRADA in collaboration with Stora Enso. This summary includes: • information about the performance of end-grain sealers, adhesive tapes, panel joint types, and temporary protection membranes on rates of water uptake • the influence of solar gain and temperature on water uptake

• drying rates • implications for designers and contractors of crosslaminated timber.

Our full programme of webinars also launched in 2021 with great success and attracted more than 3,000 sign-ups across the year. Experts from BM TRADA and Warringtonfire – including Lewis Taylor, Phil O’Leary, Peter Barker, Hugh Mansfield-Williams and Mostafa Jafarian – presented on topics such as fire performance, UKCA marking, structural timber engineering, the nature of wood and moisture in timber.

Publications in progress

Part 1 of Timber connections: a guide for engineers is an exploration of the underlying theory of connections and will be particularly helpful for engineers who find this topic challenging. Planned additions to this series include Part 2 – Further topics, Part 3 – Worked examples and Part 4 – Proprietary connectors, which will be released during 2022.

The series will assist the engineer with connection typology, design detail and the steps involved in verification by calculation. Technical illustrations, calculations and worked examples support the comprehensive textual analysis of the topics and challenges of timber connections. There is also considerable demand for best practice information on how to design, specify and install cladding, particularly in response to evolving regulatory requirements. The long-awaited 4th edition of External timber cladding is being prepared by Dr Ivor Davies and BM TRADA’s technical consultants. This enlarged edition contains guidance on the key recommendations in BS 8605-2. It explains their background and practical application, while giving additional guidance that is not available in the BS 8605 series.

The new edition of External timber cladding, to be published in 2022, will include:

• an outline of the benefits of timber compared to other cladding materials

• discussion of each stage in the design and construction process

• expanded guidance on fire safety and structural performance

• new construction details for the main connections and junctions on a timber-clad wall

• information on the latest material options such as modified woods and surface coatings.

Home-Grown Homes

Since launching in April 2018, the Home-Grown Homes project team has been diligently investigating Wales’ potential to become a high-value forest nation. Home-Grown Homes, of which BM TRADA was a key delivery partner, concluded at the beginning of 2021 with a full report for the Welsh Government identifying which supply chain interventions may be most effective and how they might be applied, as well as a comprehensive list of outputs.

The project’s key findings and recommendations are summarised in the project report, while practical tools and guidance have also been developed for social housing developers, architects and engineers, timber frame manufacturers and wood processors, forestry managers and land owners.

Robin Lancashire, BM TRADA’s senior timber frame consultant, has been involved since the project launch and co-wrote the output Making the right choices – a guide to improving the build quality of new build timber frame social housing with fellow BM TRADA consultants Lewis Taylor, Adam Moring and Gavin Fidler.

These resources are all available for free download on the Woodknowledge Wales website. >>

Magdalene College Library. Photo: Niall McLaughlin Architects / Nick Kane

Awards

Two highlights of the UK timber industry calendar are the much-anticipated ceremonies of the Wood Awards and the TTJ Awards. Both continued with some adjustments as a result of the ongoing pandemic.

The TTJ Awards 2021 – its 25th anniversary – proceeded as a hybrid event, allowing people to tune in from across the UK. Winners on the day included timber mainstays English Woodlands Timber, Arnold Laver, Accsys Technologies and International Plywood.

The Wood Awards 2021 – see page 20 for more – saw Magdalene College Library, a ‘tour de force of architectural design and achievement’, take the coveted Gold Award to become the latest winner of winners. Other winners included The Alice Hawthorn, St John Street, The Boathouse, Built: East Pavilion, The Welcome Building RHS Garden Bridgewater, Gayles Farm 5 and the Iso-Lounge Chair.

This year, however, also saw the addition of the FSC® Furniture Awards to the UK calendar – a new extension of the awards that have been running in Italy since 2019. Organised by the Forest Stewardship Council®, the goal of the FSC® Furniture Awards is to recognise and celebrate the commitment of FSC®-certified companies in the indoor and outdoor furniture categories.

Twelve awards for indoor and outdoor furniture were given to FSC®-certified companies active in the furniture sector across Italy, the UK, Germany, Poland and Croatia. Two UK-based companies – Community Products (UK) Ltd and Buoyant Upholstery Ltd – were on the winners’ list for environmentally friendly outdoor furniture and play equipment for toddlers, and exemplary corporate social responsibility policies respectively.

TRADA and TTF merger

TDUK is a new cross-sectoral organisation formed by the merger of the Timber Research and Development Association (TRADA) and the Timber Trade Federation (TTF) in 2021.

TRADA and TTF operated as separate brands initially but as of December 2021 the combined organisation is now known as TDUK (Timber Development UK), with a new brand identity. Many plans are in progress for the new organisation, including a sustainability committee which has to date produced a technical paper on carbon calculation. n

References

• www.bmtrada.com/certification-services/third-partycertification-non-fire/ukca-marking-for-construction-products

• woodknowledge.wales

• Books, Wood Information Sheets and Research Summaries mentioned are available to buy from bookshop.bmtrada.com

• Assessing the carbon-related impacts and benefits of timber in construction products and buildings, Technical Paper,

TDUK, November 2021

TIMBER DEVELOPMENT UK

Timber Development UK has been formed from the merger of two of the largest and longest established organisations in the supply chain, Timber Trade Federation (TTF) and Timber Research and Development Association (TRADA).

Bringing these two associations together as one will create the largest, most comprehensive supply chain body in the UK, spanning from sawmill to specifier and all points in between.

We want to use this new organisation to capitalise on the growing interest in designing with timber and to act as an agent of change towards more sustainable, low carbon forms of construction.

We will help facilitate this by

•Enabling greater dialogue throughout the supply chain, from designers to manufacturers to suppliers, all within the same organisation;

•Developing the UK’s largest, most comprehensive online library of technical specification and design guidance; •Working with the UK university network via our University Engagement Program (UEP) to ensure the next generation of specifiers is equipped with the information and tools to confidently design with timber;

•Delivering the tools, training, guidance and auditing to ensure only correctly marked, legal and sustainable timber products are placed on the UK market;

•Developing supply-chain level market data to make accurate business decisions on purchasing and supply;

•Publicising and promoting the benefits of timber via our newsletters, magazines and digital outputs;

•Promoting best practice via competition such as The Wood Awards, the University Design Challenge and other activities;

•Facilitating and hosting networking and discussion opportunities via lectures, dinners, exhibitions and drinks evenings around the country.

Timber Development UK will be launching as a fully integrated organisation in summer 2022. In the meantime please visit www.trada.co.uk and www.ttf.co.uk to keep up to date on our activities.