A guide to understanding construction options for low-carbon developers.

Timber Development UK (TDUK) – the UK’s trade association for the timber supply chain – has launched a new guide to understanding options for timber construction.

Aimed at developers, investors and policy makers, Timber Typologies outlines the variety of build options and methodologies available for low carbon timber construction and details the sort of building types each method is suitable or appropriate for.

Written with Waugh Thistleton Architects, one of the leading ‘timber first’ architects’ practices in the UK, the book is intended as a primer or beginners guide to the variety of timber solutions available. It will help decision makers understand the options open to them and make the right choices to deliver the best outcomes.

David Hopkins, chief executive at Timber Development UK, said:

“Timber is vital when it comes to decarbonising construction. However, if it is going to realise its full potential, we can no longer talk in simple generic terms about this material. We need to be specific about the systems and approaches available and the benefits and risks each of these can bring.

“We can’t make progress if clients, architects and policy makers are talking at cross purposes about what they mean when they talk about building in timber.”

Alastair Ogle, associate at Waugh Thistleton Architects, and one of the lead authors of the book, said:

“We still see enormous amounts of misinformation and misunderstanding when it comes to timber. Clients, local authorities and even insurers don’t seem to understand that all of these things they refer to as “timber” are in fact a wide range of completely different build systems with very different properties.

“We’re committed to helping design and enable a low-carbon building revolution, but that will only come when we increase understanding across the market. We hope this will in turn increase confidence in permitting, designing, insuring and constructing the low-carbon timber buildings of the future.”

Timber Typologies is the first in a trio of books aimed at increasing understanding options among the decision makers. It will be accompanied by Timber Policy – a guide to the variety of ways countries and city authorities are encouraging timber construction around the world, and Timber LCA, examining comparisons of lifecycle analysis between buildings constructed of different materials.

You can download Timber Typologies for free from the Timber Development UK website.

 

ENDS

Please direct media enquiries to lmacandrew@timberdevelopment.uk, or call 07365613817

 

Waugh Thistleton Architects (Author)

Waugh Thistleton is a world leader in engineered timber and a pioneer in the field of tall timber buildings. Since their inception they have prioritised the principles of reduce, reuse, recycle in their work, producing innovative and imaginative design solutions that harness leading technologies and minimise their impact on the environment. The quality of their buildings and commitment to low carbon construction has earned Waugh Thistleton an international reputation in environmentally viable architecture and design.

Timber Development UK (Publisher)

Timber Development UK has been formed from the merger of the two largest and longest-established organisations in the supply chain, the Timber Trade Federation (TTF) and the Timber Research and Development Association (TRADA). Bringing these two associations together as one has created the largest, most comprehensive supply chain body in the UK, spanning from sawmill to specifier and all the points in between. TDUK aims to connect the timber supply chain, lead best practice, and accelerate a low carbon future.