A multi-agency drive to increase the use of timber engineering in the countryside is gathering pace.
InTEC (Innovative Timber Engineering in the Countryside), started by engineer Geoff Freedman three years ago, has a new web link on the Forestry Commission website, a glossy brochure and is formulating plans to expand into a potentially worldwide information network.
Mr Freedman described the web link, at www.forestry.gov.uk/intec, as the UK’s first forum for the timber engineering community to exchange information and ideas. About 500 copies of the InTEC brochure, funded by wood. for good, have been sent out through the Building Research Establishment’s and TRADA‘s distribution lists.
InTEC, whose members include the Forestry Commission, BRE, TRADA, Forestry Civil Engineering and Napier University‘s Centre for Timber Engineering, plans to expand its international links to help stimulate more funding for research projects.
Stress laminated timber structures, such as bridges, are a major focus for the group. Its “Timber Bridges and Foundations” report has been presented at a number of conferences and can now be viewed via the web link.
Mr Freedman, head of design at Forestry Civil Engineering and InTEC chairman, said: “By showing what you can do with timber in the countryside, people will be more happy to live in timber houses.”
