Within this period a great deal of the time is taken in permitting processes and getting power to the site..
These are still in development by the industry.However, some have been released by LETI, RIBA and others, and there is an effort within the industry to get them aligned.
What we need now is for organisations, clients and engineers to do the calculations to find out what the embodied carbon is within their building designs — both at the design stage and post completion.We need to be monitoring what is actually going into buildings, compared to what we think should be going in.This means that contractors need to get on board as well.
Ultimately, we’ll have to collate the data together as an industry, but benchmarks will help us learn, and guide us at the design stage..Creating a sustainable future — alignment of standards and guidance.
One of the key challenges we need to address in our quest for a sustainable future, is to align the various forms of guidance and advice coming into the industry from different sources.
There are currently a number of different institutions involved, all representing different parties within the built environment.- Transport and store timber in waterproofed flat stacks.. - Engage early with contractors to produce an on-site maintenance plan with special attention to timber elements.. - Enable sufficient drying periods within the project programme.. - Use preservative natural treatments to prevent woodboring and avoid the use of toxic chemicals such as chromium, chlorophenols or arsenic.. - Use preservative natural treatments on all sides to prevent water ingress.
Oil based primers penetrate wood better than latex or water-based primers, providing greater resistance and are less likely to be scraped off during construction.. - Consider design details to prevent water ingress during construction and use.. Fire and insurance.Since the Grenfell tragedy, public policy has shifted towards a zero-combustibility approach in certain higher risk buildings, making the use of engineered timber more complicated.
This has increased insurance costs for mass timber construction.It is common practice to solve the problem by enclosing timber for increased fire protection.