The gathering of leaders at Cop26 has brought global efforts into sharp focus, while Tomorrow’s Engineers Week (8-12 November) is also highlighting the role of engineers in tackling climate change and helping achieve net zero.
This challenge could not be more apparent than in the construction sector – it consumes approximately half of all extracted materials, accounts for 36% of global final energy use and 39% of energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.
The arguments for using naturally renewable materials in the built environment are therefore clear and compelling. Trees grow and lock in carbon (1,000kg per cubic metre), so using it in construction creates a ‘carbon sink’. With good forest management practices at the start of the supply chain, timber construction can act as a clean technological solution to reduce our carbon impact.
International studies have shown that educational spaces built with timber improve the learning experience, lower heart rates, improve concentration spans and academic performance. Timber, not the carbon-intensive materials of concrete and steel, is the future.
From precision-engineered timber products to fully modular ‘turnkey’ systems that are fitted off-site, there is a vast array of options available, whether for ‘net zero’ affordable housing, the restoration of inefficient building stock or sustainability showcases. So why isn’t there wholesale adoption?
Largely it is down to poor perception and out-of-date business and procurement approaches, combined with a lack of understanding on issues such as durability, cost, and performance in fire. Whole-life cost, for example, accounts for not only the upfront capital cost, but also the running cost and the total environmental impact.
These issues are holding back deployment. The UK has a low-carbon affordable housing shortfall, for example – a government target of 300,000 ‘starts’ per year only resulted in 127,580 in 2020, a 16% decrease on the previous year, partially down to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Although timber is a sustainable solution, the Greater London Authority has all but banned ‘combustible’ materials for new homes, limiting deployment of this tried-and-tested, safe form of construction. In Norway, on the other hand, the Mjostarnet all-timber mixed-use and residential tower formed from large solid wood slabs of cross-laminated timber (CLT) has reached 18 storeys tall. London was previously the record holder for the world’s tallest timber building when the nine-storey Murray Grove was built using CLT in Hackney in 2008.
At NMITE (New Model Institute for Technology and Engineering) we firmly believe in a sustainable and prosperous future that safeguards the wellbeing of future generations. That’s why we are collaborating with Edinburgh Napier University (ENU), Timber Development UK and an extensive list of stakeholders to establish a centre for learners to gain specialist timber construction knowledge and skills for the ‘better, faster and greener’ delivery of the built environment, addressing the climate emergency and affordable housing crisis.
NMITE’s £7m Centre for Advanced Timber Technology (CATT) is being built in Hereford, due for completion in June 2022. By incorporating advanced timber technologies into its build, CATT will create the necessary conditions for research, innovation and industry-led education of students, enabled by Industry 4.0 digitisation. As a ‘living lab’, CATT will collect data that will be made available to NMITE students to inform teaching and learning. The objective is to stimulate cooperation across construction, from the client to the warranty provider and from seed to building, demonstrating the rewards of a career in timber construction.
The next generation of built environment professionals will require a different approach to education, to ensure sustainable approaches are implemented. No longer can the professions work in ‘silos’ – collaboration is fundamental. Circularity must be embedded in the mindset, maximising the value of available resources and storing carbon for as long as possible.
To achieve this, NMITE, ENU and Timber Development UK (formed from the Timber Trade Federation and TRADA) are working with external stakeholders to provide a course with comprehensive training in modern methods of timber construction – Timber Technology Engineering and Design, also known as Timber TED. Learners will draw on the short course learning content, working remotely (individually or in groups) to design manufacturing and assembly of off-site timber products.
Learning will focus on real-world scenarios, and students will undertake performance validation (thermal, acoustic, structural, productivity) through software simulation or testing. This will ensure an understanding of timber as a structural material, the array of product options and how to respond sustainably to a design brief. It also creates a broader understanding of building performance (acoustic, thermal, durability and fire), whole-life cost, digital design and retrofit and restoration.
The first iteration of this new model approach will be launched at the World of Wood event, with a UK-wide competition to engage and train the next generation of architects, engineers and surveyors with the knowledge they need to build better, to build for the future, and to build with timber.
NMITE’s aim is to create engineers who will be climate pioneers of the future. Facilities such as CATT, and wider events such as Cop26 and Tomorrow’s Engineers Week, are vital for inspiring passionate young people to enter the field – after all, it is the future of our planet that is at stake.
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Content published by Professional Engineering does not necessarily represent the views of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.