The Transforming Timber initiative, led by Construction Scotland Innovation Centre, aims to boost the use of homegrown sustainable timber in mainstream construction projects. It has now secured funding to create a demonstrator home ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference taking place in Glasgow
Industry analysis suggests that around 85% of all new homes in Scotland are built using timber at their core, with the material’s use in England and Wales also growing more popular each year.
However, despite having access to significant stretches of woodland area on our doorstep – 3.23m hectares covering around 13% of land – the UK remains the second-largest importer of forestry products such as timber, behind only China.
One of the main reasons for this is that timber grown in the UK has historically only been used for non-structural applications, such as fencing materials and pallets, alongside repair, maintenance, and improvement activities.
Outlining the opportunity
A team of experts led by Construction Scotland Innovation Centre (CSIC) is aiming to change that by exploring the opportunity for homegrown resources to be used more widely in mainstream construction projects.
The Transforming Timber initiative – supported by Edinburgh Napier University’s Centre for Offsite Construction & Innovative Structures (COCIS), ECOSystems Technologies, the University of Edinburgh, SNRG, and BSW Group – the UK’s largest integrated forestry business – recently secured £1.45m of funding from Innovate UK’s Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) to create a fully functional two-storey prototype home.
The first modular home manufactured from Scottish mass timber will be displayed as part of CSIC’s Built Environment COP26 showcase from 1-12 November, highlighting how sustainable timber resources can deliver future building projects as an alternative to products currently imported from Europe.
The unit is being manufactured using a mix of engineered timber forms, including cross laminated (CLT), glue-laminated (GLT) and nail laminated timber (NLT) components using the UK’s only vacuum press at CSIC’s 35,000 sq ft Innovation Factory in Hamilton.
The project also includes the development of a suite of resources and training materials that will be made available to the sector.
Sam Hart, head of modern methods of construction (MMC) programmes at CSIC, said: “There is a huge opportunity for the greater use of renewable, homegrown timber in UK construction and research has proven that with the right treatment and processing, it can be used for a wide range of structural elements.
The demonstrator project is enabling us to take that research one step further, highlighting the possibilities and the range of benefits that will come alongside the greater use of engineered timber.
“The success of this phase represents an important step in building an ecosystem underpinned by the right skills, expertise and infrastructure that will support greater demand and supply of homegrown timber in construction. For instance, it could lead to the development of the UK’s first mass-manufacturing facility for homegrown natural resources.”
The carbon cost of timber
Among a range of benefits, using more homegrown timber is expected to significantly lower costs for the construction industry – initial figures suggest a potential decrease of as much as 10% compared to imported CLT – and cut carbon emissions through reduced need for transportation.
A recent study by Edinburgh Napier University’s COCIS estimated that over the next 30 years, substituting concrete floor slabs with timber in steel building frames could avoid up to 50 megatons of upfront greenhouse gasses or carbon dioxide equivalent.
Sourcing timber locally would also help to address some of the current materials issues associated with global shortages and price fluctuations.
“The arrival of COP26 in Glasgow has accelerated conversations about sustainability – it is now firmly at the top of the agenda for construction and the built environment. The sector is a large contributor in terms of emissions, so the more that we can do to transition to low embodied carbon materials, the better,” Hart said.
“Some of it will come down to regulation and procurement but by presenting the business case and offering guidance, we hope to encourage more widespread adoption of homegrown materials. Timber is a naturally renewable, low embodied carbon material and removing the need to transport it from abroad could cut its carbon footprint even further.
“Beyond the environmental benefits, there are whole host of compelling reasons to embrace timber construction, particularly from an accuracy and efficiency perspective. Products and components are generally manufactured offsite in modern facilities, making the process quicker, more controllable and easily repeatable.”
A spotlight on safety
As part of the project, the team have engaged with experts from the University of Edinburgh’s Fire Research Centre (EFRC) to ensure that fire safety is included as one of the core upfront considerations in the engineering and design of homegrown timber buildings.
Through a range of experiments at varying scales, EFRC researchers aim to develop a detailed understanding of the response in fire of mass timber elements arising from different factors such as the types of adhesives that might be used, the proportion of timber left exposed in a building, or geometry to building compartments.
Luke Bisby, professor of fire and structures at the University of Edinburgh, said: “It is incredibly encouraging to connect with the project team at such an early stage of the homegrown timber journey. Nobody wants to think about the worst-case scenario, but it is an essential part of the process, and all design and engineering decisions must be risk-assessed and backed by science.
“The physics of fire is a complex area, and there will be variables and contexts to consider for each and every project. One set of rules won’t work for all but we are hoping to get to a point where we can provide guidance and lay the groundwork with a set of parameters that designers could take as a starting point. The approach taken for a single-storey modular unit would be very different to a proposal for a school building or high-rise hotel, for instance.
“The environmental benefits of timber for the construction sector and built environment are difficult to ignore but it is important that we do it right. We’ve come a long way in our understanding of how timber burns and behaves under different conditions and with the right treatment, it can be made as safe as any other building material.
“Scotland has a reputation for being a world-leader in fire safety – the first-ever fire service was established in Edinburgh in the 1800s. It is fitting that we are once again at the forefront of progress, leading the way in terms of regulation and innovation. By establishing a reputation for safety from the start, we are keen to support the increased use of homegrown timber in construction and see it as one piece of a much larger puzzle to mitigate the impacts of climate change.”
To find out more about Transforming Timber, visit: www.transformingtimber.co.uk
Sam Hart
Head of modern methods of construction programmes
Construction Scotland Innovation Centre
Tel: +44 (0)141 212 5250
Twitter: @CScotIC
LinkedIn: Construction Scotland Innovation Centre
