Summary
• iPro EWP Floor and Roof Layout is up and running in North America.
• New iPro Express handles solid timber, I-joists and engineered beams.
• C4Ci is developing a sustainable compliance program.
The meeting place for an interview with James Sweet is an unlikely one.
The Spa Hotel, Tunbridge Wells, a bastion of all that is traditional and conservative, served as a backdrop to Mr Sweet’s talking about game-changing innovation in the building products industry, with a focus on software and breaking down traditional barriers to trade.
Mr Sweet, a founder of construction consultancy C4Ci, has had a prolific role in the UK timber products industry. His background includes being a founding member of the planning team for the SmartPly OSB plant in Waterford, Ireland and a founder member of the pioneering team for Trus Joist (TJ) – the engineered wood products business of Weyerhaeuser – and director of European operations for Weyerhaeuser.
During his time in the timber trade, Mr Sweet has witnessed much dysfunctionality and lack of connectivity in the UK housebuilding industry, something that sowed the seeds for the creation of C4Ci. This multi-disciplinary consultancy deals with everything from structural engineering, software development and building physics to European accreditation and sustainability compliance.
For the timber building products industry, it is C4Ci’s development of iPro software, for the design of engineered wood floor and roof systems, which has caught the eye and which has seen several developments in recent weeks.
iPro was launched in 2008 as a universal design software catering for every I-joist brand, and there is now an additional single member sizing program in iPro Express. The business is also up and running in North America.
Mr Sweet readily admits that iPro wasn’t welcomed with open arms by I-joist manufacturers because the software makes it easier and free for dealers to swap between different I-joist brands, effectively removing what he says are the “golden handcuffs”.
But he’s sure that eventually iPro will take over the design market for floor systems.
“We didn’t get into the market to upset the industry but to work towards improving it,” said Mr Sweet. “Innovation doesn’t wait for change to happen but can benefit from dynamic changes the likes of which we are seeing now.
“If you are in the commodity world [such as I-joists] you have to work to the lowest delivered cost. I think the I-joist guys see we are in a commodity business. You have to be the lowest cost manufacturer and provide the lowest cost system with a reliable service.
“Software is a huge distraction for a company,” said Mr Sweet. “We had two people working full time on software at TJ in the UK alone, plus five in the design office. It’s a significant cost and one that the I-joist guys could reduce if they chose to.”
It is the cost, time and trouble of changing to a different design software which represents a real problem for dealers, he said.
“When we were at TJ, to get a dealer to switch it would need a double-digit percentage change in price to make it worth their while. iPro changes that and gives them supply security.”
Steady growth
iPro has seen steady growth and has been taken up by several I-joist manufacturers and a number of independent dealers, the latest of which is Steico and its dealer network.
Mr Sweet estimates iPro has about 150 “seats” (designers using the system) in Europe out of a total market of 400 for floor layout software.
The latest development is the launch of iPro Express, which C4Ci claims is a first in the timber industry in being a universal single member sizing program for all engineered wood and solid timber beams.
Another new development is on the North American front.
“We are not being aggressive in the UK with iPro, the biggest push from us is in the US and Canada, that’s where we see the real benefits.”
In September it launched in the US with Forest City Trading Group, which has diversified into engineered wood products and has become C4Ci’s distributor of iPro in the US. Significant interest is already being shown.
Meanwhile, in Canada C4Ci has signed up with Pinkwood Engineered Wood Products, whose I-joists feature a pink-coloured fire intumescent coating.
Looking forward, Mr Sweet said a key iPro development to follow early next year will be the functionality to cater for open-web products.
Another software development – Carbon Counter – is also exciting C4Ci, with Mr Sweet saying it has the potential to overcome the difficulties being faced by architects and builders in complying with the new building regulations, including the Code for Sustainable Homes. C4Ci leads a consortium, also involving Saint-Gobain and Kier, developing the software, which is designed to solve these compliance headaches. A £297,000 Technology Strategy Board grant was secured to help fund this work.
Compatible with architectural design software, it will include performance and cost comparisons of using different products and how they help compliance and earn Code points in a residential house design while also delivering SAP and other performance data.
Instead of concentrating on the visuals of a house and conforming to Building Regulations, builders also need to consider U-values, Y-values, airtightness and low carbon technologies, which inevitably have an impact on the architect’s time and build costs.
Carbon Counter will work out compliance using a database featuring all building products data from manufacturers allowing design, costing and compliance to take place in one program.
