It’s the height of modern timber buildings that’s hit the headlines. There was the 33m Murray Grove tower in London. Later came the 48m Treet building in Bergen, followed by the 84m Hoho in Vienna and the 85.4m Mjöstårnet, also in Bergen. Then in 2022 Ascent in Milwaukee topped the lot at 86.6m. Each has had its 15 minutes of fame, then the media moves to the next world’s tallest timber tower. And now 90m and 100m contenders for the title in Toronto and near Zurich respectively are already making news at proposal stage.
But size isn’t everything. Just as worthy of note, if not more so because it’s made these wood behemoths possible, has been the increasing range of timber building methodologies we’ve seen emerging in recent years. Latest timber construction products, developments in prefabrication and panelisation, advances in design software and increased understanding among architects and engineers in how to combine timber with steel, concrete and other materials in ever bolder hybrid structures have dramatically widened horizons. Building designers now have a broadening array of timber construction tools, products and techniques at their disposal and they’re ambitious to use them, opening up potentially whole new applications for wood.
Now, to underline this evolution and raise awareness and knowledge, particularly among developers, planners and insurers, of the new forms of timber building and how and where they can be applied, Timber Development UK (TDUK) has published a new book.
The 70-page ‘Timber Typologies’ has been written by leading timber-specialist architects Waugh & Thistleton Architects (WTA), designers of Murray Grove and multifarious other wood-based buildings.
TDUK chief executive David Hopkins said the publication is intended to communicate the diversity and versatility of timber building among decision makers who still have a tendency to see it as homogenous, so potentially limiting its use.
“Timber is vital when it comes to decarbonising construction,” he said. “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 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.”
Lead author, WTA associate Alastair Ogle, said the practice still sees a lot of misunderstanding and misinformation about timber construction: “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.”
The book opens by underlining the multiple values of using timber in the critical task of decarbonising construction; the fact that it’s a low embodied carbon material that delivers low energy buildings, while storing sequestered carbon through a building’s lifetime and beyond. It also highlights its increasingly validated health and well-being benefits.
It looks at its suitability for prefabrication and low environmental impact modern methods of construction, summarising the various timber building forms and elements, from lightweight timber panels, through glulam and cross-laminated timber, to laminated veneer lumber. It describes what they comprise and gives their embodied carbon figures.
The timber systems section looks at how these products are used in construction, focusing on lightweight timber frame, volumetric modular, panelised mass timber, post and beam and hybrid systems. For each it details levels of prefabrication feasible, construction times, ease of transportation, layout flexibility and demountability.
The Applications chapter addresses which type or types of building each system is suited to, looking at low-rise and mid-rise residential and commercial. For each it addresses layout, building height, structural grid and fire safety considerations.
The book closes by looking in more detail at the key topics that come up when developers, planners, insurers and others are considering timber building; fire, moisture/ durability and acoustics.
Timber Typologies will be followed by companion volumes, ‘Timber Policy’, which will cover the ways countries and city authorities worldwide are encouraging timber construction, and ‘Timber LCA’, which will examine lifecycle analysis of buildings constructed in different materials.
“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,” said Mr Ogle. “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 free to download at https://timberdevelopment.uk/resources/ timber-typologies.
