A guide to understanding construction options for low-carbon developers.

Timber Development UK (TDUK) – the UK’s trade association for the timber supply chain – has launched a new guide to understanding options for timber construction.

Aimed at developers, investors and policy makers, Timber Typologies outlines the variety of build options and methodologies available for low carbon timber construction and details the sort of building types each method is suitable or appropriate for.

Written with Waugh Thistleton Architects, one of the leading ‘timber first’ architects’ practices in the UK, the book is intended as a primer or beginners guide to the variety of timber solutions available. It will help decision makers understand the options open to them and make the right choices to deliver the best outcomes.

David Hopkins, chief executive at Timber Development UK, said:

“Timber is vital when it comes to decarbonising construction. However, if it is going to realise its full potential, we can no longer talk in simple generic terms about this material. We need to be specific about the systems and approaches available and the benefits and risks each of these can bring.

“We can’t make progress if clients, architects and policy makers are talking at cross purposes about what they mean when they talk about building in timber.”

Alastair Ogle, associate at Waugh Thistleton Architects, and one of the lead authors of the book, said:

“We still see enormous amounts of misinformation and misunderstanding when it comes to timber. Clients, local authorities and even insurers don’t seem to understand that all of these things they refer to as “timber” are in fact a wide range of completely different build systems with very different properties.

“We’re committed to helping design and enable a low-carbon building revolution, but that will only come when we increase understanding across the market. We hope this will in turn increase confidence in permitting, designing, insuring and constructing the low-carbon timber buildings of the future.”

Timber Typologies is the first in a trio of books aimed at increasing understanding options among the decision makers. It will be accompanied by Timber Policy – a guide to the variety of ways countries and city authorities are encouraging timber construction around the world, and Timber LCA, examining comparisons of lifecycle analysis between buildings constructed of different materials.

You can download Timber Typologies for free from the Timber Development UK website.