21 Apr NMITE showcases timber innovation fund outcomes at special event

On 18 March, the New Model Institute for Technology and Engineering (NMITE) hosted a Timber in Construction project-specific event at its Skylon Campus, with presentations from several TiC innovation fund project leads. The event brought together research covering supply chain integration, novel product innovations and modern methods of outreach and dissemination. An opportunity for knowledge sharing and the event concluded with key findings and recommendations for next steps on the conversations and feedback gathered.

The Woods into Management Forestry Innovation Funds (WIMFIF) are a suite of four complementary funding streams administered by the Forestry Commission on behalf of Defra. Collectively, the funds are designed to overcome barriers to woodland management and increase the use of domestic timber. Between 2021 and 2025, £7.6 million was awarded via the WiMFIF to support 63 projects, 14 of which were funded through the Timber in Construction (TiC) innovation funding stream.

The Forestry Commission is the government department responsible for protecting, expanding and promoting the sustainable management of woodlands.

Supporting active woodland management
WiMFIF, provided by the UK government and administered by the Forestry Commission, aims to support the active management of woodlands, promoting sustainability, biodiversity, and carbon sequestration. The fund focuses on innovative projects that enhance forest health, encourage sustainable timber production, and increase the use of domestically sourced timber.

By investing in projects that restore neglected woodlands, develop sustainable timber markets, and improve forest management practices, WiMFIF helps strengthen the UK’s forestry sector and reduce the environmental impact of construction. This funding stream also supports initiatives that integrate timber into building projects, contributing to the long-term goal of reducing carbon emissions in the built environment.

The Timber in Construction Innovation Fund, which commenced in 2021, focuses on innovations in timber-based construction methods and materials. Supporting the development of sustainable building systems, it promotes the value-added use of domestic timber in modern methods of construction, increases timber production, and integrates more timber into buildings, aiding carbon sequestration.

This initiative directly aligns with the ‘Timber in Construction Roadmap’, specifically priority theme 7, which outlines the strategic vision for “promoting innovation and high performing timber construction systems”. By supporting innovative projects and technologies, the Timber in Construction Innovation Fund helps realise the goals of the roadmap, in enhancing the role of timber as a viable, sustainable, and versatile material in the built environment. Through this funding, the UK is reinforcing the importance of timber in creating a low-carbon, resilient future for the construction sector.

During the WiMFIF event, a number of these projects presented their findings.

Building from England’s Woodlands (BFEW) – NMITE
Evidencing the suitability and viability of English woodland resource for structural timber systems, the BFEW project had the objective of deriving scalable solutions by demonstrating the resource’s compatibility with sustainable ‘modern methods of construction’ (MMC) approaches. A collaborative project in partnership with dRMM Architects, Edinburgh Napier University, Built Environment-Smarter Transformation and EcoSystems, the project developed an understanding of the market, stress tested the resource with modern manufacturing approaches and showcase da range of potential solutions. Key findings included:

Market analysis demonstrated there were:
Challenges of disconnected supply, manufacturing, skill & knowledge gaps and raw material volume availability
Drivers of structural capability, enhanced durability (for certain species), low embodied energy and diversion from ‘waste”.
Significant work was undertaken to characterise the properties of the selected species, which included sycamore, alder, birch, sweet chestnut, beech, ash, poplar, paulownia and European oak. This helped create a set of test data that can be built upon in the future to determine grading standards.
A range of engineered products were derived that optimised the use of varying hardwood resources. It was demonstrated that ‘hybrid’ type solutions offered the most advantage, i.e., using specific hardwood properties for different performance attributes within an engineered system. An example of this is placing hardwood at the top and bottom of a glulam beam, or at the connection joint of a moment resisting frame.
Incorporating the information in a demonstration unit and pilot test case shows the opportunities and helps to mobilise the supply chain. Moreover, it creates buy in and compelling evidence of its viability, helping to stimulate further future opportunities.
Capturing the information and presenting it in multiple ways helps to raise awareness and understanding across various audiences including students, professionals, stakeholders, members of the public and potential funders. There is a need to share information across these various groups to ensure that the work has legacy.

Commercialisation of Homegrown Woodfibre Insulation – NMITE
The aim of this project was to optimise the combination of English-grown hardwood and softwood, alongside suitable binders and additives, for the manufacture of commercially viable homegrown wood-fibre insulation, at scale, for use in the built environment. The project reviewed the current supply chain capability, developed quality management systems for the manufacture of homegrown wood-fibre insulation, and pilot manufactured small-scale samples to determine thermal and fire performance. Key findings included:

Supply chain capability: The project identified gaps in the current supply chain for homegrown wood-fibre insulation, including limitations in processing infrastructure, and market readiness.
Material optimisation: Various combinations of English-grown hardwoods and softwoods were tested. The research identified optimal material blends that enhance insulation performance.
Blending approach for optimal performance: Two blending strategies were tested – one with 20% hardwood fibres and 80% softwood fibres, and another with a 50:50 hardwood and softwood mix. Both blends produced insulation materials comparable to other natural insulation products available on the market.
Flexibility in manufacturing and material availability: The blending approach offers a practical solution for manufacturers, allowing flexibility to adapt to raw material availability. The study found that blends of different fibres performed among the best in terms of insulation properties, making this approach beneficial for large-scale production.
Thermal performance: The insulation demonstrated competitive thermal conductivity values compared to existing commercial products.
Thermal performance in real conditions: In-situ testing demonstrated that insulation made with hardwood fibres performed thermally as expected when compared to laboratory results, confirming the material’s reliability.
Commercial viability: The research confirmed the potential for scaling up production of homegrown wood-fibre insulation, with recommendations for further development, investment, and collaboration with industry partners.

Sharing Value Chain Stories, Facilitating Change – Evolving Forests
The aim of this project was to stimulate markets for English timber by deepening connections across the supply-chain. Evolving Forests used its knowledge of the timber value-chain to explore construction with foresters; forestry with construction and manufacturers; and forestry and construction with policy influencers. The creation of rich visuals and media demonstrating innovative approaches to forestry and timber was used to bring stakeholders together to gain feedback and input to the themes and discussions of the project. The films, podcasts, written articles and photo-stories have been curated within a bespoke platform freely available at www.evolvingforests.com/future-of-timber. Key findings included:

Creative approaches to current and anticipated challenges within forestry and design will be vital to ensure both thriving resilient forests and thriving resilient timber use.
Stronger, more collaborative relationships are needed throughout the timber supply chain, particularly between forestry and design/architecture professions, to steer appropriate timber use in the coming decades.
Bringing people, organisations, and ideas together to openly discuss industry challenges and opportunities will further support the use of English timber and stimulate its markets.

Timber Innovative Manufacturing Benefitting English Resources (TIMBER) – Cambridge University
This project explored practical pathways for integrating homegrown English timber into structural applications, focusing on the performance of lower-grade and ungraded timber in floor trusses. Through experimental benchmarking, we manufactured and tested three truss types – Finger-Jointed (FJ), Punch-Plate (PP), and Hybrid (HY) – using a mix of homegrown hardwoods and softwoods (Beech, Larch, and Corsican Pine). The results demonstrated that these local resources can match or exceed the performance of standard industry products, offering viable solutions for increasing the use of domestic timber in construction. Key findings included:

Industry-ready solutions: HY trusses proved that homegrown softwood graded below TR26 can effectively replace imported timber in steel-web trusses. This expands the potential use of domestic resources while maintaining existing production methods, improving resource extraction efficiency and making adoption seamless for the industry.
High-performance alternative: PP trusses outperformed benchmark models, increasing load capacity by up to 100% and reducing carbon footprint by 17%. This design is fully compatible with existing industrial production, unlocking significant potential for local timber.
Sustainable innovation: FJ trusses provided the highest stiffness and a metal-free connection, reducing the carbon footprint by up to 80%, making them an attractive low-carbon alternative
Scalable impact: Our analysis shows that using just 11% of England’s current sawn softwood production could supply floor structures for approximately 70,000 homes, highlighting the significant potential of homegrown timber in scaling up sustainable construction.

Digital Marketplace for Timber – CloudForest
Working with Sylva Foundation, Snug Homes and Kiss House this project developed an online marketplace for timber. Bringing together a community of woodlands, harvesting contractors, sawmills & innovative construction companies to ensure a sustainable supply of locally-grown timber. Sawmills and harvesting contractors can save a search for logs and jobs. They’ll then receive email timber alert when someone lists timber matching their requirements. Woodland managers can get feedback from the market on planned timber parcels, helping them avoid felling the trees at the wrong time or cutting them to the wrong lengths.

Key findings included:

CloudForest Markeplace – with a huge roadmap for future development and the ultimate aim of supporting construction to design for, and procure timber locally
Link that transfers timber inventory from Sylva Foundation’s myForest mapping software to CloudForest. Creating greater visibility of timber coming to market.
A report detailing the challenges people and businesses face in along the supply chain from forest through to construction.

Safe Schools for the Future – Architype
Architype brought together a collaborative framework of industry and academia to developed a new, holistic method for demonstrating the fire safety of timber-framed primary schools. The proposed approach is capable of being delivered using available UK grown C-16 timber products for structure and could also incorporate a homegrown insulation once available to create a highly replicable system that capable of achieving Passivhaus energy performance with low embodied carbon outcomes.

Team members also include University College London (UCL), University of Edinburgh (UoE), IGNIS, PYC group, Lowfield Timber Frames, Wood Knowledge Wales. Key findings included:

New fire research demonstrating the conservativeness of current design, and work by UoE clarifying the benefits of a performance-based approach when creating high-performance, low-impact schools for the future.
This research also demonstrates how timber frame construction, in the instance of the simulated case study, can be considered unaffected by internal fire scenarios.
Analysis by UCL also demonstrates that the likely fires in school environments are significantly less onerous than furnace test conditions, further compounding the conservativeness of standard design.
This approach is implementable at scale today, demonstrated by in use health + wellbeing and performance data of 17 completed timber frame primary schools across England, Scotland, and Wales.
Healthy classrooms have been demonstrated in this publication, displacing harmful emitting materials with bio-based materials, and enjoying the fresh air benefits of an efficiently and effectively ventilated space.
This holistic approach is underpinned by a quality assurance driven by an independent certification – Passivhaus in these instances.
This new open-source publication will share all of the collected data from these 17 case study schools, with new health and well being and fire research, to support design teams to upscale the use of home grown timber for our schools.
Grown in Britain
This project came in two parts due to unforeseen partnership changes, but was successful against the original and the ultimate plan. The initial partnership, has created the first Grown in Britain, high end, curtain walling for construction, in partnership with Gloucester based firm Scandinavian Timber. The project outputs showed the potential to replace imported timbers and aluminium with Grown in Britain-certified hardwood. Ash, both thermally modified and unmodified, was used. Positioning the UK as innovators of a low-carbon, sought-after construction method, this project has demonstrated how UK hardwoods can be specified into our cityscapes and public places in a visible, modern, and impactful way. The components made were successfully installed in a few projects before the partnership and target product had to change.

The second phase of the project focussed on a creating the first UK and GiB-certified 3-ply board an alternative to imported ‘Tilly Board’ and similar.

Panels are a vital part of construction with huge consumption and a range of qualities. The total demand could never be fully supplied from homegrown sources and so GiB felt it sensible to focus on a high end products with added value . In partnership with Agile Homes and Highland Heritage Woodworks, the team created and tested 3-ply boards in a variety of core and face species including Ash, Paulownia and Douglas Fir.

Small batches of improved second phase production are now being tested by several furniture manufacturers and Agile Homes are building small scale construction structures with it.

Those who have seen the GiB 3-Ply Board are always keen to use it and see how it performs, not least because of its great appearance and associated ‘biophilic’ quality.

Key findings included:

Curtain Walling can be made from GiB Hardwoods
External elements of curtain walling can be made form thermally modified GiB Hardwood and ‘regular’ Chestnut
XGiB timbers can be commercially laminated into 3-ply boards for construction, fit our and furniture
The UK can compete with imports if the right products are chosen to develop that ‘add value’ to the species we have readily available.
Capital investment is a barrier to building and growing related manufacturing in the UK.
Key findings
The success of the Forestry Commission-funded Timber in Construction projects was clearly evident at the event. Much of this success was attributed to how the fund was managed and the level of collaboration that took place within the project teams and the stakeholders they engaged with. The willingness of the project teams to share their findings and determine ways to build upon the success through further future collaboration was the overarching theme that the event ended on, i.e., this was seen as the beginning, not the end, given the need to move the work forward to ensure that it is applied in the market. On this front there was consensus that the information needs to be disseminated in ways that engage others from outside the forum and indeed outside the sector itself.