| 13
ONE BEAM, MANY LESSONS
The design and construction of the Skills Hub featuring home-grown timber glulam at NMITE was an exercise in balancing innovation and regulation says associate professor Dr Patricia Xavier
There is a complex story behind a single structural element in our new build Skills Hub at the New Model Institute of Technology & Engineering (NMITE). At NMITE, our Centre for Timber Technology (CATT) is active in developing the supply chain and skills for a stronger structural timber sector in the UK. The onsite build was an opportunity to showcase that structural timber can be home-grown. Together with our architects Arbor and contractors Giraffe Engineering, we replaced a planned imported timber beam with our UK hybrid glulam beam combining softwood and hardwood. The spruce and ash used was harvested, processed and installed all within the UK. The emphasis was to demonstrate what was feasible using home-grown resource by optimising specification and incorporating an innovative approach. A small step that reflected our values and our teaching mission, it would also be an excellent way to tackle the barriers against installing structural timber in the UK, so we can start to make the system work better.
What happened when we swapped imported timber for home-grown was that we had to undertake bespoke testing. Full-scale bending and glue-line shear tests were required to demonstrate adequate performance. We also had to deal with perceived risk. Structural timber is still considered a risk, even in the smallest applications, so deviating from the specified glulam beam required additional documentation.
Why this matters beyond NMITE is because our challenges were not unique and showed that there is more to be done to make home-grown structural timber a realistic option. To get such innovative products used requires an
effort throughout the supply chain. Often the methods of manufacture are geographically fragmented and so more resource intensive. There is also a need to demonstrate the correct levels of quality assurances, necessitating more rigour and on occasion bespoke testing. All of this can make showcasing innovation cost prohibitive. However, showcasing is critical to getting over the barriers to uptake allowing products to be commercialised and ideally scaled up to a point where they can be competitive.
Our new construction management students will graduate into a construction sector in transition between conventional certainty and innovation required for net zero construction. They need to understand that change is not frictionless, so sharing the story of the beam will be one of their first learning activities this September. They need to know that even small substitutions raise design, regulatory, and cultural challenges, but this is exactly the lesson they need to learn early if they are to be the pathfinders for the increased use of structural timber in the UK. All great lessons which can be taken from something as “simple” as a beam. By wrestling with these questions in our own buildings, we live the reality we ask students to study, and it becomes real choice for them. The Skills Hub beam is evidence that innovation in construction is rarely a leap forward. More often, it is incremental, negotiated, and contested, with the intricacies figured out one beam at a time. ■
Showcasing is critical to getting over the barriers to uptake
www.ttjonline.com | September/October 2025 | TTJ
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101
