Summary
• In Touch with Timber consists of four modules.
• Timber’s potential will be demonstrated through case studies.
• Tesco Stores’ chief architect will speak on plans for 27 new timber stores.

To enable visitors to Coventry to tailor their day to suit their business needs, In Touch with Timber is this year broken down into four half-day modules. Each will cater for a different audience but they will all share an important aim – to demonstrate through case study examples timber’s limitless potential.

Tuesday September 27
Session 1: Using timber on its own, or in combination with other materials, on almost any project, provides the greatest scope for truly outstanding design. Hopkins’ architecture is easily identifiable, its key signature the way in which connections inform the wider design. Through case studies including Kroon Hall at Yale University and the London 2012 Olympics Velodrome, Jim Greaves, senior partner, will elaborate on the influences that timber has had on Hopkins’ designs.

Simon Knox, partner at Knox Bhavan, will describe how use of a wide variety of species, a contemporary feel and extremely high quality craftsmanship have led to various awards for private homes, including Holly Barn, Dulwich Road and Carson Road. Roddy Langmuir, partner at Edward Cullinan Architects (ECA) will comment on Stonebridge Hillside Hub and the John Hope Gateway to Edinburgh’s Royal Botanic Garden, to explore the inspiration behind ECA’s timber designs.

Session 2: A new breed of hi-tech, structural timber sub-contractor has entered the market. As a result, the commercial sector is “very much ready for the taking”. Martin Young, chief architect of Tesco Stores Ltd, will discuss plans for 27 new timber stores, as part of an on-going development of more sustainable supermarket store design. Clive Pople, food retail director of Willmott Dixon, which has delivered projects for Wm Morrison, Tesco, Marks & Spencer and Waitrose, will highlight what the private sector can learn from public sector successes.

Bryden Wood works closely with high profile clients, such as BAA and GlaxoSmithKline, requiring bespoke, off-site construction solutions to tight timescales. Partner Martin Wood will explore the benefits of using timber and wood-based panels. Completing the programme, construction director Nick Milestone of B&K Structures will focus on what skills have been transferable to timber from steel since the company began to offer a combined timber and steel structural sub-contractor service in 2006. Since then it has completed nearly 100 projects in the commercial sector.

Wednesday September 28
Session 3: Timber arguably offers the greatest range of possible solutions for off-site construction. Peter Cartwright, a partner at Cartwright Pickard will draw upon his experience in the housing sector, using a variety of timber frame and SIPs construction techniques, to highlight the importance of team make-up and programme management techniques.

Education will be represented by Simon Smith, director of Buildings and Design, Ramboll UK Ltd, whose perseverance in converting its clients to more innovative and sustainable construction techniques using solid wood panels has brought them many awards and accolades. Case studies include the Open Academy, Norwich, and the Thomas Clarkson Community College, Wisbech.

Lack of thermal mass is often quoted as a reason against using timber, but Guy Nevill, partner at M&E engineers Max Fordham will address this issue with the new Woodland Trust headquarters in Grantham. He will explore how much thermal mass is actually needed and how it can most efficiently be included.

David Grindley, partner at David Grindley Architects will use a mental health care home for young people in Northampton to highlight how timescales and costs were kept under control to create living accommodation which met the needs of occupants and their carers.

Session 4: The UK has a strong pedigree in adopting ideas, technologies and techniques from abroad and taking them to new levels of design. From Norway, Henning Kaland, partner at Code Architects, will take a look at opportunities which have been exploited in this mature market. Gary C Williams, president of Timber Systems Ltd in Canada, will focus on the non-residential sector where timber is breaking into what was the preserve of steel and concrete construction. Strombro Building Workshop in Sweden provided technical design support for many cross-laminated timber projects. Owner Daniel Strombro will explore developments in design techniques. Finally, from Austria, Harald Proffessner, head of sales at CREE / Rhomberg will introduce a new technology, combining timber and concrete, capable of rising to 30 storeys.

? Book at www.timber-expo.co.uk/conference