COP26 demonstrator home to showcase the potential of homegrown timber
September 16 2021
Construction Scotland Innovation Centre is to create a fully-functioning two-storey prototype home to demonstrate the versatility of homegrown timber in construction.
The modular home will be displayed on the banks of the River Clyde throughout the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow this November, after receiving £1.45m funding from Innovate UK to make the commercial case for timber in future construction. Team members will be on hand to furnish visitors with training resources and technical guidance to fast-track adoption.
Built using a mix of cross-laminated timber, glue-laminated timber and nail laminated timber components the prototype is being seen as an opportunity to deliver mass manufacturing capacity for homegrown timber that would reduce reliance on imports.
Sam Hart, innovation manager at CSIC, said: “There is a huge opportunity for the greater use of renewable Scottish timber in UK construction and research has proven that with the right treatment and processing, it can be used for a wide range of structural elements. The construction of a functioning prototype will allow us to take this research one step further, showcasing the strength of the opportunity and the associated environmental benefits, while enabling us to monitor and test the performance and behaviour of the building in a real-world environment, outside of the factory.”
Greater adoption of timber is seen as vital to tackling carbon emissions associated with concrete production, with estimates suggesting that swapping concrete floor slabs for timber could avoid pumping 50 megatons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
Although around 85% of Scottish housebuilding employs timber frame construction the UK is the second-largest importer of forestry products after China.
The two-bedroom home will make the case for establishing native industrial off-site manufacturing capacity
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Doesn't sound very renewable in that context.
Also the import bill for forest products -- I think the picture might be different if you take the wood pellets for Drax power station out of the equation.
The house design itself looks weak / limited.
Too much of the shipping container design vibe to make it front rank.
Hopefully the Mk.2 will improve things.