Timber Frame - Terrific Timber

Timber has always been a widely used construction material, and is well known for the construction of 2 and 3 storey houses and is increasingly used for the construction of 2 to 6 storey apartment buildings. Use in commercial construction is more limited. Timber frame has become one of the standard forms of construction in the UK residential market, with an estimated 20% market share.

Benefits of timber frame construction include:

• Speed
• Accuracy
• Sustainable material with a minimum of energy expended to create the raw material
• Typical construction details achieve a very good thermal performance and are very air tight
• Lightweight reducing the bearing loads on foundations
• Flexibility in design, can accommodate most design features

There is a well developed supply base to the timber frame market, from large, automated manufacturers specialising in high volume work at very competitive prices down to specialist manufacturers carving a niche for themselves supplying the more challenging parts of the market.

The industry has been capacity constrained over the last few years, however significant investment from a number of major players in new and automated production facilities is adding significant volume to the market, which has fuelled market share growth.

With a mature market, a number of companies are developing alternative innovative forms of construction such as Low E and Zero Energy solutions, closed panel technologies to differentiate their offering. Others are adding to their package with ancillary items such as factory fitted doors and windows, cladding solutions as well as roof packages. As a result the service to the main contractor is improving and there is likely to be an option well tailored to the specific needs of any given project.

These issues and many more will be debated at Terrific Timber.