At the recent Seventh World Conference on Timber Engineering in Malaysia Dr Bob Leicester of CSIRO, Australia, delivered an astonishing ‘factoid’. Apparently, if everybody alive today were to enjoy the lifestyle of the average American citizen, the planet would need a productive surface area three times its actual total to ensure a sustainable equilibrium.

There is no possibility of precisely verifying this, but there must be a lot of truth in the message. Over the next decade, we will need to tread more lightly on the land, and productive use of forest and woodland resources, followed by more sustainable construction with timber, will be a significant way of achieving this.

In 1999 the Institution of Structural Engineers produced a report to guide structural engineers and other construction professionals – Building with a sustainable future: Construction without depletion. Many of us have begun to put its principles into practice, including selecting materials and systems with low embodied energy and easy reuse.

Often this has led to a resurgence of innovative and exciting timber structures, such as the new Weald and Downland oak-lathed gridshell. Such ventures are encouraging new UK buildings in timber but will this blooming of our timber engineering talent last, or will we slip back into mediocrity, as we did after the last awakening to the benefits of timber shell structures in the 1960s? The answer depends

on how the challenge of holistic design and construction economy is met, and how we

can agree and refine its criteria so clients are convinced.

Environmental impact

It is recognised that the selection of materials for a structure can have a significant effect on environmental assessment. It is particularly beneficial if materials can be reused, rather than merely recycled, and the worst option is obviously consignment to landfill.

Speaking at the IABSE Conference, an international timber engineering event held last year in Finland, Professor Julius Natterer pointed out that, while the ‘eco-friendly’ credentials of timber are, prima facie, extremely good, users will be willing to enjoy the warm glow of inhabiting buildings that help to “save the planet” only if these are affordable.

To compete towards these goals, timber engineering has two strategies; they are not incompatible, but do seem to involve part of the team playing one type of game, and others another. One way forward is to work with the very high quality of improved wood, structural timber composites and carefully selected timbers acting compositely with other complementary materials. The alternative is to strive to use medium and low-quality timber in ways in which its problematic features are bypassed or minimised.

&#8220Previous generations did not need television documentaries or earth summits to understand that sustainability entails meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs”

The future

So what will the future hold? First, I believe we will see very large structural elements and panels, introducing a high degree of off-site fabrication, yet maintaining timber’s benefits – not only its sustainability aspects, but also a pride in design excellence and kudos in ownership. Timber engineering counters the “Nowheresville” antipathy created by repetitive prefabrication.

TRADA Technology is also looking at new European (CEN) standards for structural pole timbers and related materials. Suppliers of softwood thinnings and hardwood coppice poles are interested in new research aimed at ensuring value is added to thinning operations carried out on softwood plantations and coppiced woodland.

The uptake of Continental European ideas, like timber-concrete composites, will commence with applications where ‘ecological’ construction is especially appropriate. Gradually, however, the aim is to influence mainstream construction on the potential of materials such as limes and local timbers, to create healthier buildings and sustainable construction life cycles.

We will also see increasing use of bonded-in rod connections, leading to ultra-clean architectural forms, with high strength, stiffness and structural fire resistance.

Several of the above products will also come together increasingly in the construction of alternative forms of medium rise apartments and in sports facilities having large, clear spans.

The role of the forest of the future for mankind and for the environment cannot be assured through environmental protectionism alone. There is a close analogy with the way in which we must conserve and enjoy the built environmental heritage. Many now recognise that only a very small percentage of buildings and other structures, normally those of Grade I listing status, or internationally recognised monuments, can be preserved through a ‘kid gloves’ treatment.

Less intrusive conservation

The way forward for the great majority is to promote an understanding of less intrusive but practical methods of conservation and, at the same time, to ensure that good historic buildings of all periods and styles are lived in and employed to the full.

So it is with forests and woodlands – we must reintroduce the mentality of virtually all previous generations of users of this unique resource before the early twentieth century. They did not need television documentaries, or earth summits to understand that sustainability entails meeting the needs of the present, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs.