Binderholz hosts mass timber seminar

Hosted by Binderholz, a major producer of solid timber and engineered wood, including cross-laminated timber (CLT) and glulam, the seminar addressed some of the key concerns specifiers may have about using CLT in their designs, showcased the Gramophone Works CLT project in London, Kaufmann Bausysteme’s modular buildings and gave an insight into Binderholz’s product range and production capabilities.

Danny Hopkins, technical director of OFR Consultants, whose expertise is in structural behaviour in high temperatures, spoke about the Regulation 7 change to building regulations, restricting the use of combustible materials above 18m and of the government’s proposal to reduce that height to 11m and to broaden its reach to include hotels, hostels and boarding houses.

“Unless there is a compelling reason not to do it [extend the ban] I’d bet money that they will,” he said.

“The fire and timber problem is complicated but not insurmountable,” he added. “Timber has to be part of the sustainable future - I can see that despite being a fire engineer,” he said. “We can realise these great buildings by virtue of new products such as CLT. CLT is not banned. You can build a CLT building within the scope of the ban as long as the CLT is not part of the external wall.”

He credited Binderholz and others for acknowledging that the fire issue needed to be addressed and highlighted a project currently being run by Binderholz, OFR and industry, the objective of which is to establish an evidence-based framework and envelope within which adequately safe CLT buildings can be realised in the residential and commercial sectors.

The project, which will run for 18 months to two years, consists of a compliance roadmap; training; a literature review; and a compliance pathway, all leading to multi-occupancy residential research (large scale testing of CLT enclosures). Commercial research and dissemination will follow, with the evidence being made available to everyone.