32 | Sector Focus: Timber in Construction
◄ demonstration hub to progress new methods of working equipment and technologies, especially for SMEs. The over-arching consensus from the industry partnership exercise was the need for CATT to “stimulate collaboration across the industry both vertically (seed to end product) and horizontally (architecture, construction, digitalisation) as a common theme, together with showing a wider audience how rewarding a career in timber can be”. The above was further reinforced through a recent series of CATT strategy update seminars with industry feedback received. The number one priority remained to establish CATT as a centre of excellence for timber engineering with an emphasis on educating built environment professionals to ensure uptake.
Prof Hairstans added that demonstrating the many different career paths available within the timber sector was one of CATT’s unique selling points.
“If you do a traditional civil engineering degree you’ll probably go on to a graduate training programme with a consultancy engineering firm or a main contractor and become a chartered engineer, whereas what we’re doing here is seed to building and covering that whole landscape. It means individuals coming in can be in control of their pathway – so they can be a joiner on site but they want to be a structural engineer, or they are an architectural technologist but want to be a production manager, and so on. “We want to enable this because it will be a more attractive educational approach that will be challenge based, rather than lectures and exams – it will be learning by doing and upskilling on that basis.”
The finer details of the learning still have to be fleshed out – with input from organisations, such as TDUK, so that it can be tailored to meet industry demands – but in essence it will be the degree apprenticeship model. NMITE’s degree awarding process is through the Open University. One possible scenario is that students could be provided with micro-credentials
(bite-sized learning that can be accessed anywhere), which can be reached through an online knowledge library and they could then go into CATT for blocks of time comprising practical challenges.
Other industry tie-ups clearly demonstrate the hi-tech nature of timber construction today. CATT has established a five-year relationship with German-based Dietrich’s, the 3D CAD/CAM software specialists for wood construction and in addition to supplying the software, Dietrich’s will provide training for NMITE academics on an ongoing basis. And, the partnership with ENU creates scope to link with California-based Trimble, via the Trimble Technology Lab. Trimble has a broad portfolio of building construction solutions and its strategic aim is to “enable the digital transformation of the architecture, engineering and construction (ACE) practitioner workflow”. “An integrated digital process empowers disparate teams across the construction lifecycle with actionable data to improve productivity and reduce waste,” said Prof Hairstans. “The most recognisable software of Trimble is 3D modelling SketchUp, and in addition to this there is an extensive range of hardware including the Trimble and Microsoft HoloLens (notably NMITE also has a partnership agreement with Microsoft). This is complimentary to the NMITE Dietrich’s relationship and creates enhanced opportunities around collaborative work, digital twinning, and virtual reality / augmented reality.” Prof Hairstans is keen to accelerate digitalisation and factory-based approaches and says the level of digital connectivity between everyday objects brought about by Industry 4.0 will increase as assets become more “intelligent”.
“Industry 5.0 personalisation is the next step, with the collaboration of human skills and digitalisation,” he said. “Workers in Industry 5.0 will be upskilled to provide value-added tasks in production, leading to mass customisation and personalisation for customers. Research work into these types of
approaches to timber construction have been pioneered at ETH Zurich.”
Digitalisation is high up on the agenda in the 2020s and so is the environment, particularly with the COP26 meeting coming up later this year. So if the time is right for timber it is certainly right for CATT. “The stars are aligned,” said Prof Hairstans.
“You could adopt a timber first policy but, to be honest, do you even need to because if you’re having to have evidence of the embodied energy and the embodied carbon in your building, and you have to have a certain level of pre-manufacture and waste reduction on site, then the drivers point towards timber based solutions anyway. “That is why CATT is a huge opportunity for the sector because to take advantage [of the increased interest in timber] you need to underpin it with skills. With CATT the industry has a blank canvas, a higher education start-up institute prepared to put into play a new educational model to train from seed to building.
“Timber construction methods are
exceptionally sophisticated and the UK has a really strong track record in that level of sophistication from the sawmillers through to the end utilisation. It’s a bugbear of mine that there is a real thing about home-grown timber – ‘don’t use it, it’s not good quality’ – but we have some of the most sophisticated sawmilling practices and mills have invested heavily to optimise the material. That’s why mass timber was created – it’s about adding value to the material. You maximise its value and then it goes into the built environment locking up carbon for generations. “The knowledge and expertise that reside in the UK for the utilisation of the product is world class. But we need more. “We won’t get this opportunity again,” continued Prof Hairstans, “and it’s come in from left field. NMITE has come up with this concept, recognised the opportunities in the timber sector and presented it to us with seed funding to get things mobilised, so let’s step up to the plate and let’s do it. Let’s make sure it works.” ■
Above left: The 2,500m2
building will include five 100m2
studios, 220m2
of breakout and event spaces and two 700m2 Above right: The building will perform the function of a living lab TTJ | July/August 2021 |
www.ttjonline.com
workshops
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