Work is about to start on the 400m2 multi-million pound Coed y Brenin forest visitor and mountain bike centre at Dolgellau in north Wales for Forestry Commission Wales.
The Brettstapel massive wood building panel system laminates softwood planks into solid wood panels using wooded dowels to pull the board together, instead of gluing as in cross-laminated timber. It has been developed for Welsh conditions by Woodknowledge Wales, Pontrilas Timber, Edinburgh Napier University and Williams Homes.
The first batch of 12% moisture Douglas fir was delivered last week by Pontrilas Timber to Williams Homes, which is manufacturing and erecting the panels. Construction is due to begin next week.
"We’ve surprised ourselves by successfully drying home-grown Douglas fir to a moisture content below normal specification," said Pontrilas spokesperson Sharon Poynton.
The project partners believe the project could open up major new markets for Welsh-grown Grand fir, Sitka spruce and larch too.
"Turning our timber into readily useable structural systems at reasonable cost has been the Holy Grail of the Welsh timber sector," said Dainis Dauksta of Woodknowledge Wales.
"By proving a new way of using Douglas fir in construction we are reinforcing the rationale for using this tree as the next crop."
Welsh timber sector development body Coed Cymru has also announced that it is now looking for manufacturers to take its timber end grain floor tile project to market.
The three-year EU and Welsh government-funded research project has shown it is viable to produce the tiles from small dimension Welsh hardwood and softwood, currently mostly used for woodfuel.
"We’ve shown it is possible to overcome engineering and supply chain problems," said project manager Dylan Jones. "The next stage is to get manufacturers on board to take this forward, because we know the demand is there."
