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Above: The CATT/CAM building was designed by Bond Bryant
“We will learn from the whole approach and be completely transparent about what we’ve done and why we are doing it from an educational position for the learners that come through the door but also for the wider professions. And that includes the supply chain itself.”
A research fellow, Gabriele Tamagnone, who joins the CATT team in August, will be tasked with extracting as much information from the building process and the structure itself, in order to “fold” that into the learning. This won’t just be about structural timber engineering but will encompass the whole “seed to build” journey and how that can facilitate the uptake of timber. “This covers embodied energy, embodied carbon, productivity, logistics, sequencing of operations, management of materials on site, all the way through to how the building performs from an energy perspective, a structural perspective and a moisture management perspective,” said Prof Hairstans. “We also want a biophilic approach to design, so what does that more natural space do in terms of VOC levels, indoor air quality and how does it encourage learning?” He added that Speller Metcalfe was totally on board with this forensic examination, allocating a space on site for Mr Tamagnone to operate from. In return, of course, it will benefit from the knowledge exchange. “Being immersed in a live construction project using advanced technologies will create value return for the client (NMITE/ CATT) but also for Speller Metcalfe.” Looking further ahead, the concept of the living lab and value return could be extended if NMITE is able to take advantage of an option it has to buy land next to the CATT/ CAM building. This site could be used to showcase advanced timber technologies by building anything from timber houses to timber wind turbines for renewable energy generation. “I’m keen to get the industry involved in this and I think this is where one of the main
opportunities resides,” said Prof Hairstans. The aforementioned MoU demonstrates how important the partnership approach is to NMITE and brings with it a host of benefits. ENU is the lead UK and internationally recognised university of timber construction and wood science research and, in addition, hosts the Construction Scotland Innovation Centre (CSIC). They have advanced timber testing and manufacturing facilities, respectively, including the only UK facility for mass timber fabrication via vacuum press technology. The plan is for CATT’s facilities to be
“complementary to the infrastructure that is available”, so although there will be some repetition of effort “in order to meet with the localised context, there is no point in duplication”. “We will see how this unfolds, but essentially the learners will be able to derive solutions to given problems and if something needs to be manufactured it can be done at the CSIC, for example, or through a framework agreement with an industry partner, such as a roof truss or timber frame manufacturer,” said Prof Hairstans. “A product manufactured externally could then be brought in to CATT for testing or to add value to it and it could be incorporated into a design challenge, which could be a building or a system put up in the land adjacent to CATT or on a live project. The opportunities are endless if we get this set up correctly”
He added that there is a great deal of work to do before that can be implemented – putting in the appropriate software systems for students to use and signing up reciprocal partners, but said “there’s a lot of enthusiasm and proactiveness, so we will get there”. This sharing of resources could extend to the teaching process, too. The current core team of academics includes Prof Hairstans, Tim Belden, who is assistant professor of digital engineering at NMITE, and Gabriele Tamagnone but there is also the expertise
of the ENU and CSIC teams to tap into. Plus there is the academic community of Timber Development UK (TDUK) to explore. “I have a list of 10 or 15 people that have been proactively trying to put timber content onto the curriculum of traditional universities, so let’s bring them into the fold and see what’s there in terms of partnership and engagement. There is lots of opportunity, it’s just a case of synthesising it down to make sure we get the model right.” Prof Hairstans says he is “hooked in closely” with TDUK (the merged Timber Trade Federation and TRADA) and has close links with other industry organisations, including the Structural Timber Association and Truss Rafter Association (TRA) who have been proactive in their engagement to date. “Funding secured by my colleague Dr Mila Duncheva at Edinburgh Napier University from the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal and the Housing, Construction and Infrastructure Skills Gateway is currently supporting the development of competency framework with pilot learning material including a COP26 ‘Ice-box challenge’, the premise of which is to underpin what we want to do through the educational approach so we can create these ‘T-shaped’ professionals who understand timber. The governance of the steering committee for that competency work includes the TDUK, the TRA, CSIC, Timber Design Initiatives, and Swedish Wood all of whom are providing in-kind support including learning materials.” CATT is keen to gear its educational approach to meeting the needs of industry and a series of roundtable events with senior timber industry representatives last year, prior to the appointment of Prof Hairstans, resulted in some key takeaways.
These included: demand for short courses focusing on specialist skills and training to address current and future gaps; the desire to hire work-ready graduates to refresh the talent pipeline; and the need for a ►
www.ttjonline.com | July/August 2021 | TTJ
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