Engineered wood specialist backs Napier scholarships

The business, which has worked on such major CLT projects as the Murray Grove Tower in Hackney and now the William Perkin School in Greenford, the UK's biggest CLT building to date, has agreed to join the scholarship funding initiative for the academic year beginning 2014.

"It is really good news that KLH is on board and keen to help drive this initiative forward," said Geoff Rhodes, chair of the advisory board of Edinburgh Napier's Forest Products Research Institute. "We are really pleased with the initial support overall, which includes some of the sector's leading firms."

The MSc Scholarship project was launched to increase the UK's pool of knowledge and expertise in timber engineering, the lack of which, said Mr Rhodes, had resulted in a reluctance among engineers, contractors and architects to work with wood.

"Too many construction professionals are averse to timber based on the limited knowledge transfer that comes through the syllabus of typical UK civil and structural engineering degree programmes," he said.

Scholarship backers undertake to pay £3,750 to cover a student's tuition fees through the one-year MSc programme. They can also act as the student's mentor and industry contact, offering work placements and delivering guest lectures to the MSc course.

Supporters for the 2013 academic year are Consolidated Timber Holdings, Crown Timber, Arnold Laver, BSW Timber, Oregon Timber Frame, James Latham, James Jones & Sons, Norbord, Kingspan Timber Solutions, Accsys Technologies, SEMA4C, the Timber Trade Federation and UK Timber Frame Association.

"And we are talking to six to eight other potential supporters who may join the scheme for the 2014 academic year," said Mr Rhodes.