Thermo Bamboo is a luxurious decking product available by Wallbarn Ltd and is truly one of the most sustainable materials available for construction projects due to its environmental performance, fire resistance, longevity and structural performance. This ultra-hard, compressed bamboo fibre board is ideal for high trafficked decking applications as it has superb dimensional stability, resistance to scratching and a 25-year warranty. Wallbarn believes it should be considered a sustainable natural decking product for the following reasons:-Source material-Long term durability and performance-Fire Safety-Warranty and reuse Source materialThermo bamboo is sourced, obviously, from bamboo forests. However, bamboo is a fast growing grass, not wood. The stems are not cut down but “mown” down to the roots. Therefore, the bamboo plants remain alive so grow back immediately after harvesting. Crucially the roots are not ripped out of the ground, so the topsoil on the forest floor is less disturbed.This means no deforestation and higher yields from a smaller jungle footprint. Fast replenishing forestsBamboo is extremely fast growing, up to 1 metre per day, the forests are fully replenished within 4-5 years. This fast turnaround compares to 40 years for fir trees, around 100 years for tropical wood and up to 300 years for oak. CO2 captureBamboo Elegance is rated as CO2 neutral. Since the fibre can be harvested so quickly and the finished decking material has a 25 year plus lifespan (and far longer recycled use) the CO2, which is absorbed during the growing process of the bamboo shoots, is locked in for longer. Furthermore, by growing new bamboo every 4-5 years at least 5 new batches of bamboo fibre are produced for every batch harvested. Therefore, more CO2 is captured through the new plants. EPD – Environmental Product DeclarationThermo Bamboo is covered by EPD , the Environmental Product Declaration (in accordance with EN 15804) which is a ‘cradle to gate’ environmental impact assessment for products over their entire lifecycle, including transport through to installation on site and End of Life. It is extremely rare for a “hardwood” material to be covered by EPD and it is important to look for products that have an EPD to assess their environmental impact. Long term durability and performance Thermo processThe thermo process turns bamboo fibres into an ultra-hard “hardwood” with incredible strength and dimensional stability. The fibres are steamed rather than being kiln dried. This removes the moisture and sugars from the fibres and the fibres are then pressed and glued together under heavy pressure. Super hard deckingThis makes Thermo Bamboo denser, drier and more rot-proof than tropical hardwoods with a specific gravity of 1,200kg/m3. It has a Brinell strength of 87 N/mm2, has incredible bending strength and is rated Class 1 Durable under EN350/CEN/TS 15083. Dimensional stabilityBecause the original fibres are grass not wood, Thermo Bamboo has a straight grain and does not contain knots. This reduces shearing and splintering considerably. The finished decking material does not twist and does not curl with temperature changes. It does not absorb moisture or swell at all meaning tongue-and-groove joints between the ends of boards is possible and concealed milling profiles can be used without any risk of the surface bulging. Fungi and rot proofThe thermo process also removes bacteria and fungi activity from the bamboo fibres. The sugars are boiled out of the material meaning there is nothing for these agents to feast on, creating a more rot-proof decking product. The material has been independently tested for mould infestation and achieved the rating “0”, meaning “The surface of the material is resistant against mould fungi” and “The surface of the material does not provide a nutrient source.” No spores were found whatsoever. Fire safetyUnlike most other natural decking products Thermo Bamboo carries a EuroClasse fire rating of Bfl-s1. With the correct non-combustible substructure system it is possible to achieve B Roof T4 for flat roofs and podium deck construction. The benefits of a natural surface on such projects to soften the aspect and alleviate the noise somewhat should not be dismissed. Warranty and reuseThermo Bamboo carries a performance warranty of 25 years. When compared to softwood, which has a lifespan of around 5-7 years and even composites and hardwoods which often do not carry such lengthy warranties, the extended lifespan of Thermo Bamboo enhances its sustainability credentials. Its lifespan is far longer than the warrantied period and even when the decking is removed at a future date, the material can and should be recycled since it will lose hardly any of its strength and mechanical durability. Thermo Bamboo is ideal decking material. It is fast growing and harvesting has far less impact on the local environment. The finished decking material is super hard, dimensionally stable with superior resistance to weathering. It has a rich colour which naturally fades and is high performance, premium product. It is suitable for high end domestic and commercial decking projects including areas subject to high levels of foot traffic. It the ideal low environmental impact and premium product. Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals 

A programme of testing being carried out by one of the country’s leading research universities is expected to verify the team’s early findings around the WikiHouse offsite building system – indicating that West Fraser’s SterlingOSB Zero panels offer superior performance benefits for the production of their large format blocks, beams and other components. The material’s compressive and shear strength have proved key to the successful outcomes. WikiHouse has been developed to provide an economic and sustainable means of constructing low-rise housing and other accommodation which is straightforward to manufacture and erect.  A switch from imported plywood to UK-produced SterlingOSB Zero, which uses only renewable energy and has no added formaldehyde, is seen as increasing the successful housebuilding system’s environmental credentials. Originally prototyped in 2011, WikiHouse is a zero-carbon building system, maintained in the UK by Open System Lab, and offers a comprehensive selection of key components which can be shared as code and produced in small local workshops, rather than a large factory.  Crucially, the WikiHouse blocks are produced to an accuracy of 0.1mm and can be rapidly assembled by a small site team, requiring none of the traditional trade skills.  WikiHouse’s Engineering Lead, Gabriele Granello, explains: “The main idea of the system is that we are proposing these blocks – fabricated for beams, columns and other elements – that, when you join them, characterise the structural system of your house.  Up until now, we have been working with plywood but there is no UK-produced plywood, so the question for us was, could we switch and still span six or seven metres as we are now? “We suspect it can as the way the system works is that it relies much more on the compressive and shear strength of the material, rather than its tensile strength.  We have done analytical modelling for the SterlingOSB Zero and because it is made up of myriad of non-directional strands, instead of alternately orientated plys, at a microscopic level, there is no single shear plane along which the OSB will fail.  We have already carried out some preliminary testing of the joints in isolation, where the OSB actually performed better than plywood, so now we are engaging with Imperial College in London for one of their final year Masters students to conduct a programme of full-scale experiments.” The work at Imperial College’s laboratories is expected to continue for three months, with London-based Hub Workshop being the supply chain partner responsible for supplying the actual WikiBlocks.  The Founder of Hub Workshop, Drew Munden, added: “As a specialist sub-contractor in CNC machining, we serve various client sectors including garden rooms, bespoke furniture and architectural structures, and are one of half a dozen fabricators for the WikiHouse system in the UK. Buying from merchants, the SterlingOSB Zero is half the price of spruce plywood and it machines perfectly well.  For the WikiHouse Blocks, we are using a variety of tooling including various drills, an ‘engraving router’ and a compression cutters router which leaves a very clean-cut face on the 18 mm OSB.” Mel Esquerre at Open System Labs, commented: “We already have a single-storey structure using SterlingOSB Zero – a cabin, that has been completed by a private client to use as a rental property – but our road map for the system very much involves the housing associations and other affordable housing providers, to scale up the operations, and SterlingOSB Zero will very much be part of those conversations.” Available in thicknesses of 18 and 22mm, the 2400mm length boards come in widths of 590 and 1200mm, while being manufactured using UK grown timber and with Zero added formaldehyde, SterlingOSB Zero has outstanding environmental credentials.  Both the 18- and 22-mm thick panels are strong enough to meet most load-bearing applications, are BBA Approved and recognized under the NHBC Technical Standard for housing applications.  SterlingOSB Zero T&G also bears the coveted UKTFA Q-mark, a quality certification which provides a benchmark for manufacturers, and offers confidence to designers and end-users across the UK. For further information, call 01786 812 921 or visit https://uk.westfraser.com/ Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals