Engineered Performance for Timber Construction

How does one prise an individual, or a company, or an industry out of a rut? The particular rut I am talking about is the mindset that multistorey, multiresidential construction is best done in concrete? Several developers and builders were consulted recently on why they chose to build in the material they did, and if it was not timber, why not? There were as many answers as there were consultees but some impressions did emerge. These are impressions only, not rigorously analysed results, but what stands out to me is the comfort or confidence factor. This is the attitude that says “This worked for me in the past, I know I can do it, I don’t have to learn new tricks, I have my contacts set up, I know the economics, I see others building the same way”. To get over this threshold onto a new level of profit, a new technology and new possibilities requires a considerable incentive, and the height of the threshold seems to grow as the person gains experience in a particular technology. What is the incentive for change? Two things, I think – price and confidence.The price advantage for timber frame construction of equivalent comfort to conventional concrete apartments, is between 10 and 20%. This is according to an analysis of several projects in New Zealand and many more overseas.This sounds like a huge financial incentive. Of course, as soon as a developer moves in that direction, his existing suppliers generally sharpen their prices so the advantage diminishes a little.I think we have to work on the confidence angle. Case studies and more case studies are needed to show how good performance in timber construction is achieved. There is an army of carpenters skilled and available – but they probably need a bit of tuition in special considerations peculiar to multistorey building. That is what I would like to see this society work on – information and education. Do I have allies in this? I think so. I see Winstone Wallboards pushing strongly in this direction and gathering other contributors too. I believe there is a bright future for timber in multistorey, multiresidential construction.