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The first set of design guidelines for the use of wooden structural products in single-storey complexes are due to be released at the end of this year, paving the way for their use in industrial buildings.
The guidelines are for the use of Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL) or Glue Laminated Timber (Glulam) long-span portal frames and roofs.
They are the first guidelines to come out of the work of the Structural Timber Innovation Company (STIC), which has developed new technology for the application of both the Glulam and LVL products.
The research organisation was set up about two years ago to develop and commercialise new technologies that will allow structural timber to compete better in the building and construction market.
“The release of the guidelines will be an exciting milestone for us,” says STIC CEO Robert Finch. “The guidelines should help promote engineered timber products in both the New Zealand and Australian markets so they can compete effectively with steel and concrete for the first time.”
Currently the New Zealand construction market is dominated by steel structures but he is confident that this will change once the guidelines are out. Long-span timber portal frames and roofs are suitable for use in warehouses, stadiums, swimming pools and other single-storey industrial buildings.
Once the guidelines are available, structural engineers will be able to design and specify structural timber alternatives to steel and concrete and this should lead to an uptake in the use of the wood products, he says.
Structural engineers are the key influencers in the choice of structural products in the commercial construction industry and “are keen to get design information that is clear and concise and allows them to do a preliminary design for structural timber products and quickly determine price competiveness compared to other materials”.
The guidelines are part of an extensive research project into single-storey timber structures underway at Auckland University, which has developed a new ‘quick-connect’ knee-joint for long-span engineered timber portal frame buildings. Using this system architects and structural engineers can easily design large timber portal frames. Other benefits of using the timber products are that they can be pre-fabricated off-site, then erected quickly and put together during the on-site construction phase.
STIC receives major funding from the Foundation for Research Science and Technology and Forest and Wood Products Australia.
