A surprised hush descended on last month’s In Touch with Timber when architect David Morley stated that the Olympic Delivery Authority velodrome design team thought timber was ‘risky’.
He had just described a stunning all-wood design that would have inspired all who saw it and nearly made me pull on my lycra to try and make the 2012 Olympic team. But, it was runner-up to a more traditional build design.
So is using unarguably the greenest building material now risky? Of course it isn’t, but the UK construction industry is a steel, brick and block culture. Compare that with Scandinavia or North America where wood is the first choice building material.
But this cultural impediment has got to be addressed by the industry. We have to address our customers directly. We must inspire them, explain to them and help them use wood in their designs and buildings.
And despite the narrow miss on the velodrome, the Wood for Gold campaign is showing us how. TRADA and wood for good produced for the campaign a fantastic book for architects showing how wood is used in wide-span sports structures worldwide. The campaign is visiting designers, architects, engineers and contractors and the Olympic effect is getting us through doors in a way we have been unable to do before.
And we should not be too disappointed about the velodrome. Remember the 2012 Olympics will last a few weeks; if the work of Wood for Gold pays off, we will see a significant increase in the use of wood in construction for all our lifetimes.
So what can the industry do to help? Well money helps, so become a Wood for Gold sponsor. But also get with the programme. Understand your customers, their customers and beyond. Help the supply chain understand how wood can help them solve problems, whether it is getting to the upper levels of the Code for Sustainable Homes, working on life cycle assessment or designing an innovative structural use of timber.
Organisations can only do so much. The trade needs to act too.
