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News Release from: Chartered Institute of Building [CIOB] | Subject: BRE Timber
Edited by the Buildingtalk Editorial
Team on 22 December 2005
BRE seeks to improve economy of UK
timber industry
BRE Timber has been asked by the Forestry Commission and Scottish Enterprise to work on five projects aimed at improving opportunities for the country's timber processing industry.
BRE Timber, part of the United Kingdom's Building Research Establishment, has been asked by the Forestry Commission and Scottish Enterprise to work on five projects aimed at improving opportunities for the country's timber processing industry Two of the projects are directed at more profitable use of Scots pine: the first, to find out whether engineered products can be successfully manufactured from the falling boards cut from the outer edges of the log, and the second, to see whether machine grade settings can be raised for Scots pinewood grown in the United Kingdom
This article was originally published on Buildingtalk on 12 Mar 2004 at 8.00am (UK)
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BRE explains that machine strength grading settings for home grown Scots pine are currently restricted.
To enable Scots pine to penetrate the higher value parts of the structural market, the possibility of producing a series of higher settings is to be examined.
Success would allow a proportion of the material to be accepted for glulam or trussed rafter production.
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This commission follows the BRE discovery that pine from the Grampian and Cairngorm regions of Scotland has potential for far more applications than previously thought.
Chris Holland, BRE's senior consultant in timber technology, says that the work now starting builds on this by looking at how the UK industry can make the most of home grown trees.
Another project calls for an innovative approach to making better use of home-grown small diameter hardwood stems.
This involves using a novel sawing technique to cut the stems into quarters, then bonding them inside out.
The re-engineered beams are said to be very strong and stable compared with solid material.
The challenge facing BRE now is to refine the engineering process, construct beams which are longer than a simple stem, produce engineering design values and identify key markets for this innovative product.
BRE has also been asked to develop home-grown timber for industrial applications including piles and bridges and will produce a manual on adding value to United Kingdom timber.
Both Calibre and SmartWaste process improvement techniques will be applied by BRE consultants on each of the four sites where work is due to start next year on the Government's Design for Manufacture programme using modern methods of construction.
As already reported, the site developers will be erecting some 170 MMC homes fabricated off-site at a target cost below £60,000.
Calibre will be used for real time performance monitoring on site and SmartWaste to improve the economics by minimising construction waste.
BRE has recently published guidance on improving the efficiency of repairs and maintenance work through more effective partnering between client and contractor.
For an organisation without a direct maintenance labour force, says BRE managing contractors to carry out the diverse low-value maintenance jobs typically involved with property management carries high administrative costs.
The 'better repairs through partnering' project set out to demonstrate how to replicate the advantages of having direct labour force through partnering.
The key processes identified in this work were ordering repairs from someone who can diagnose a problem and order a timely and effective repair solution; dealing with voids (empty properties); paying for repairs - open book accounting which encourages elimination of waste and matching of price to value; managing the IT system (sharing information), and measuring performance.
The evaluation work was carried out in collaboration with a number of local authorities including the London Borough of Greenwich, Cambridgeshire County Council and Devon County Council.
The full results from this work, including detailed case studies, are presented in 'Repair it with effective partnering: Guide to contractual relationships for cost effective responsive maintenance', BR484, published by BRE Press at £47.50.
www.brebookshop.com BRE has appointed Dr Katherine Hyde as its director of environmental consultancy.
She joins the establishment from Taylor Woodrow Construction where she was manager of environment and sustainability.
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