What is ‘Timber Engineering’?
‘Timber Engineering’ is a term which describes the use of timber within engineered structural solutions. Often it involves the combination of timber structural elements and steelwork and is often used in adventurous, exciting and large scale architectural designs, minimising the sections and mass of individual elements whilst achieving spans and shapes which are way beyond the capability of traditional carpentry. Computers have revolutionised our ability to carry out structural analysis and 3-D modelling and have made the construction of even the most complex structures possible, but the same approach can also be used sparingly within a house frame to achieve larger spans or very complex junctions, or to reduce the amount of timber needed within a frame. You can see examples within our case studies such as Bedales school or this unusual new build oak frame house.