The wood. for good ‘expo’ at the Building Centre through October provides an opportunity to showcase the benefits of wood and wood products to a large audience of specifiers at a venue which attracts 2,000 visitors a week.
Engineered wood products on show will include factory finished wood windows, flooring cassettes, I-beams, glulam and the latest in timber frame. There will also be information about wood’s credentials as a sustainable building material.
At the same time, wfg can act as a ‘signpost’, pointing specifiers and architects in the right direction in what to specify and where to get it. This is an ideal way to fulfill a major part of our campaign – the ‘portal’ element – providing access to information about wood. At the same time, we are holding a series of seminars which will provide the audience with additional and practical information about the use of wood, innovations and examples of projects using these latest developments.
Many specifiers are unaware or sceptical of engineered products. From the use of engineered wood in the production of wood windows to glulam, I-beams and structural beams, there are many ways in which it can benefit the user – and there are more widespread uses of engineered components throughout construction finding there way into more applications.
Overall, engineered wood products are leading to greater acceptance of timber as a modern material, one which moves with the times and still provides solutions to the construction industry’s challenges. And that should lead to higher sales for the timber industry.
Getting back to a timber tradition
The wood. for good expo will highlight the potential of engineered wood for major structures like this Finnish bridge (left).
Finland has a long tradition of timber bridges but from the 70s concrete won greater market share. However, for the past decade, Vierumäen Teollisuss Oy, one of Finland’s largest glulam producers, has helped reverse the trend.
All its bridges are based on Grade A pressure impregnated pine. Two impregnation methods are used – creosote and salt pressure – and they can be supplied in a wide range of specifications.
Generally a contractor lays the foundations and Vierumäen Teollisuss designs and builds the bridge.
Seminar programme
The Innovation and Sustainability exhibition will include four Thursday evening seminars.
The topic on October 3 will be “Innovation in building with Timber Frame” featuring the following presentations:
um-rise building in timber frame” by Dr Vajik Enjily, director of the Building Research Establishment.
October 10: “Innovation in engineered wood and timber structures”
October 17: “Building in wood – the only sustainable way forward”
October 24: “Innovation in sustainable windows”
For more information visit www.woodforgood.
