Summary
• A 2012 Olympics and beyond theme attracted over 200 people to this year’s In Touch with Timber Conference.
• Timber has lost out to steel frame for the structure of three Games arenas.
• Main contractors will have to source timber from a panel of up to 20 selected suppliers.
• Only half the Games’ 2,000 tier one contracts have been awarded so far.
• The event will generate a total of over 50,000 contracts.
• Wood for Gold continues to build political.

The race has a way to run, but timber still has hurdles to jump to take the podium as one of the principal construction materials used for the London Olympics.

That was the message that came out of TRADA’s recent In Touch with Timber Conference, which took the 2012 Games as its theme.

The 200-strong audience, mixing timber suppliers with architects, engineers and other building professionals and specifiers, were left in no doubt about the importance of getting a slice of Olympics action. First the Games add up to the one of the UK’s biggest ever construction projects – with the current budget at around £9.3bn, according to Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) procurement head Morag Stuart. The stress on the ‘legacy’ of the event, its facilities having a life beyond 2012, also means they will be a shop window for the construction methods used for years to come.

“The Olympics will set new standards for public sector construction procurement too, including for the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow” said conference chairman, architect and head of the timber sector’s Wood for Gold Olympics lobbying campaign Craig White.

By rights, said speakers and delegates, wood should be in pole position for the Olympics. Timber is unarguably the most sustainable building material and the environmental impact of the Games was a central theme of London’s bid to stage them; from their inception they’ve been billed as the green or carbon neutral Olympics. However, the audience heard, so far wood-based construction has not been specified for any major building.

Construction culture

The main obstacle seems to be British building culture. Unlike its counterparts on the Continent, said Mr White, the UK construction community still seems wary of using timber for showpiece public projects.

“If the Games were just 60 miles further south, wood would be the default building material,” he said. “There’s no doubt timber building in this country faces greater obstacles,” agreed speaker David Morley of David Morley Architects (DMA). “It’s perceived as involving greater risk, which makes people nervous.”

Mr Morley was speaking from experience. With an extensive track record in timber construction, DMA entered the competition to design the Olympics velodrome with a predominantly wood-based structure. The sweeping lines of the building were achieved using glulam or LVL pillars and trusses which arched outward and over so the whole arena “expressed” the curves and banks of the track, while the central section of the roof comprised a timber gridshell.

“The truss structure gave us the tight curves we wanted and using timber was also integral to our environmental concept, giving an estimated CO2 saving of 12,000 tonnes compared to steel,” said Mr Morley.

The Olympics project, he added, boosted DMA’s confidence in its ability “to persuade clients to do exciting projects in wood”. But in this case, it wasn’t enough and the competition was won by Hopkins Architects. It is yet to be confirmed, but its building is likely to be steel-framed and it’s been reported the roof will use the same material, despite original drawings indicating wood.

“The impression we got [from the ODA] was that they felt we were breaking new ground and needed persuading the timber structure didn’t involve extra risk, such as the building over-heating,” said Mr Morley.

Austrian glulam producer Wiehag, one of the 25 companies with a stand in the In Touch exhibition area, said it had been consulted on timber-based designs for the Olympics Aquatic Centre and basketball arena. But, while the former has a timber-clad interior, steel-framed designs have been chosen for these buildings too.

Further contracts

The better news for the timber sector from Ms Stuart was that only half, or around £3.5bn-worth, of the 2,000 “tier one” Games contracts have been awarded, so there are still plenty of projects to go after. She also insisted that the ODA’s procurement policy was designed to create a level playing field for all supplier and materials sectors and not to secure the cheapest option.

“Our priorities include cost, but also quality, health, safety, environment, legality and inclusion,” she said.

Ms Stuart also updated the conference on the ODA’s timber procurement rules. Earlier this year, it said it would select a panel of up to 20 timber suppliers for the Games and ‘encourage’ tier one contractors to use them. But now, said Ms Stuart, using the panel has been made compulsory, unless contractors have a “good excuse” for going elsewhere. The aim is to simplify procurement and chain of custody policing. “And we do have similar ‘panel’ arrangements for other products and services, including waste management,” she said.

The panel members are being selected on their capacity to supply the volumes needed and, critically, to comply with the ODA’s environmental rules. These stipulate that all timber products are certified under schemes approved as proof of sustainability and legality by the government’s Central Point of Expertise on Timber; the FSC, PEFC, CSA and SFI.

Sourcing

Making the timber supply panel mandatory for main contractors, added Ms Stuart, did not mean other timber companies will be excluded, as sub-contractors can source elsewhere. “While there will be just 2,000 tier one contracts, in total the Games will generate up to 50,000, taking into account all associated construction and infrastructure work,” she said. At the same time, she stressed, every supplier will have to follow the same certification rules, with tier one contractors responsible for ensuring everything coming onto Olympics sites is compliant.

While the supply rules may be tough and other materials have been selected for the main arena structures so far, other In Touch speakers said that outstanding Olympics developments still represent a huge opportunity for timber. Gordon Ewbank of the Wood Protection Association underlined how latest high performance, low environmental impact preservative and fire retardant treatments strengthened timber’s durability and sustainability argument for Games projects. And TRADA’s Jeremy Vibert highlighted wood’s potential for use in “demountable” buildings which, given the ODA’s stress on “legacy”, are expected to be a key feature of the Olympics site, with their potential to be reused elsewhere. “There will be around 100,000m2 of demountable construction at the Games,” he said. “Wood has a proven record in this area and TRADA is reinforcing the arguments with a new book on reusable timber buildings.”

Engineered wood products further strengthened timber’s Olympics prospects, according to In Touch speaker Liam Dewar of Eurban Construction. His company specialises in using pre-fabricated, cross-laminated solid timber panels, a product he described as “the new concrete” due to its design potential and thermal mass characteristics. It is already gaining a growing following in the UK and is currently being used as the main structural component for a London apartment block that, at nine storeys, will be Europe’s tallest residential timber building. It could, said Mr Dewar, be used in a range of applications for the Games, although there was still work to be done to give specifiers the confidence to use it. “An holistic approach and supply chain partnership that ensures delivery of complete engineering, materials and installation solutions is key,” he said. “And we also need to train more people to build with this kind of product.”

Grand Olympics design

Craig White’s presentation on the “eco-home” built during the recent Grand Designs Live show (“The House that Kevin Built” brought “demountable” building and engineered wood together. The ground floor comprised glulam-framed, straw bale walls from ModCell, of which Mr White is a director, while the upper floor used a plywood panel system from Facit UK.

“The house was partly built using celeb labour, including Janet Street-Porter and comic Bill Bailey, but we completed it in five days,” said Mr White. “And it took just two days to demount ready for rebuilding at the BRE.”

Another positive to come out of In Touch was political support for timber’s Olympic cause. A “Question Time” style discussion featured Labour MP Paddy Tipping, shadow agriculture minister James Paice, Liberal Democrat Lord Newby and Forestry Commission chairman Lord Clark and all said they wanted to see more wood used in Games developments.

Mr White said Wood for Gold would capitalise on this backing to press the ODA and tier one contractors to increase their wood use – and not as a “Cinderella solution”, but to provide “exemplar” Games buildings.

He added that the campaign had secured funding for the year ahead, but that there was still scope for the timber sector to act even more in concert to ensure timber realises its Olympic potential.

“The industry needs to make its views felt to the ODA on what it has to offer,” he said. “And we have to talk with one voice and channel it effectively.”