Architectural Designer Jemma Ho reflects on her recent experience on NMITEs newly Timber Engineering Design 12-week course, dedicated to providing practical knowledge that highlights the wider value of timber – far beyond structural building use.

Why timber?

We have a wealth of trees within the UK but how are we, as built environment professionals, making the most of them?

In the last century, the UK construction industry has been heavily influenced by steel production which forms a major contributor to the overall built environment, emitting ~40% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions – but it doesn’t have to be this way now or in the future.

It’s time to shift this way of building in a more sustainable direction: a future where bio-based resources can be greater utilised and holistically regenerative for both communities and planet.

Left: Thinning of trees – can we more actively utilise this resource beyond firewood?

Right: Can ‘waste’ such as wood shavings be a product of higher value?

What we know so far

At present, the area of woodland in the UK is estimated to be 3.25 million hectares. This represents 13% of total land area. Forest Research demonstrates this as: 19% in Scotland; 15% in Wales; 10% in England; and 9% in Northern Ireland.   

In Wales, one third of the woodland coverage is publicly owned by the Welsh Government Woodland Estate and managed by NRW (Natural Resource Wales), whilst the remaining two thirds are privately owned. This means a large proportion of the Welsh woodlands are at a continued threat of being fragmentedly managed for: conservation of wildlife; significance of biodiversity; and mitigation of diseases and invasive species on the trees themselves.

Added to this, there is a dangerously insufficient amount of skilled force prepared to tackle, maintain, and to grow the existing woodland estates – this must change to sustain our ever-changing climate challenges. 

Above: Sitka spruce seedlings process observed from nursery tour with Timber TED course.

So, what can we do about this?

It starts with up-skilling and re-skilling all those who are directly and indirectly able – starting with education.

The ‘Timber Technology Engineering Design 1’ course

I recently completed a 12-week CPD ‘Timber Technology Engineering Design 1’ (TED) course delivered by The New Model Institute for Technology and Engineering (NMITE). I was impressed with the incredible amount of insightful knowledge about regenerative time use, but what contributed to the richness of this course was the intrinsic cross-disciplinary exchange of knowledge - as well as the highly skilled and diverse teaching team.

Left: Practical hands-on design tasks to engage with timber and understand its characteristics for structural use. Right: Douglas Fir stacked for drying and grading – on tour with Timber TED course

The course provided a holistic approach, spanning climate and biological timber literacy to practical hands-on briefs in NMITE’s Skylon Park and the Centre for Advanced Timber Technology (CATT) workshop.

The course entailed:

• designing structures using timber (traditional and engineered)

• awareness and understanding of the biology of types of wood

• addressing various sustainability goals, frameworks, and competencies required in the built environment.

In the first week alone our group toured, in-person, a nursery, woodland, and a active sawmill ranging from the processes of seed to mill to product. This was used as a mechanism to engage learners, to understand the tree as more than just the product. We explored the wider industry context surrounding timber, enhancing our environmental awareness as well as encouraging us to consider its lifecycle before, during, and after structural use.

A holistic approach to designing with timber

Engaging with a material practically - rather than solely on computer - allowed me to harness not only craftsmanship skills, but also engaged tactile senses that drove a better understanding of the responsibilities that come with using such a precious natural resource.

To increase the use of timber, we must see beyond the benefits of it solely being produced for just the product, but rather see the ecological and climatical environments that it creates and nurtures along with its growth. There needs to be a balance of both people and nature. Timber can no longer be seen as just a building product; it has values in job prosperity, resilient land uses, carbon capture and storage benefits, homes and habitats for wildlife to flourish and not to mention it brings so much more delight to our buildings.

Taking on a holistic approaches where varied avenues are explored offers lenses that are intrinsic to one another. This course is essential for industry professionals, as these are the people at the forefront for advocating and making healthy changes for our built environments.

Together, with this course and my studies at the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) in Machynlleth, I left with an even greater understanding that timber plays a much larger role in the built environment, far beyond aesthetics – and the knowledge that we must tackle the climate and economic crises as one rather than fragmentedly. 

Words and photography: Jemma Ho; Portrait of Jemma and classmates: NMITE/CATT