Major European conference for Aviemore

The conference is presenting the findings of a large research project looking at the performance of timber cladding. Issues such as coatings and maintenance, detailing, fire, whole life costing and species and grading will be covered in the course of the day, together with case studies and examples of good cladding practice in other countries that have maritime climates such as western Canada and Norway. The conference proceedings will form the substantive part of a new publication that is likely to establish itself as the ‘bible’ on timber cladding in Scotland for many years to come.

Conference Chairman is Councillor Ian Ross, Chairman of The Highland Council’s Sustainable Development Select Committee. He believes there is now far greater appreciation of both the role timber cladding has played within the country’s architectural history and of its current potential as a distinctive and sustainable façade material.

He said: "This conference provides an important opportunity to raise the profile and level of wider industry awareness of the use of timber as a cladding material. Most houses in rural Scotland (63 per cent, to be exact) are built using a timber-frame structure. This isn’t readily apparent or acknowledged, as we generally clad our homes in masonry blockwork.

Switching to timber cladding provides greater construction material choice and brings performance and cost advantages, which explains its growing popularity – it is an excellent example of the greater use of a renewable and sustainably managed natural resource.  It is also symbolically important because it makes Scotland’s use of wood for construction much more visible than at present. "

Over the past three years The Highland Council’s Planning and Development Service has been running a large trans-national project to address some of these issues. The project, spanning Scotland, Norway, the Faroes, and Iceland, aims to share and develop best practice in the design of timber-clad buildings in areas exposed to wind-driven rain, and to promote the use of timber as an appropriate cladding material for many rural buildings. The research organisations involved include: BRE, Napier University’s Centre for Timber Engineering, and the Norwegian Building Research Institute.

The project has six exposure trials of timber cladding now running, including three in Scotland at East Kilbride, Fort William and Inverness.  The trials are testing Sitka spruce because it is the main timber species currently available in Scotland and thus the only one capable of supporting a large expansion of the market for UK-grown timber cladding.

Along with the results of the exposure trials the conference will also be reporting on other recent research. This includes coatings and maintenance, service life costs, and alternatives to wood preservation. This latter topic is of growing interest throughout the timber industry and the conference will hear about the latest developments in the UK and overseas.

Councillor Ross added: "The conference needs to been seen in the context of a growing move towards timber-clad and sustainable construction in the Highlands. The current Highland Structure Plan states that proposed developments will be assessed on the extent to which they are designed for sustainability.

"In addition most types of new Local Plans require planning applicants to demonstrate that their proposals take account of sustainable design practice – this is generally done though the provision of a Sustainable Design Statement. This requirement is supported by the development of planning guidance on designing for sustainability in the Highlands, which highlights several case studies involving timber-clad construction. Similar moves are taking place in other parts of Scotland, particularly Argyll and in the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park."

Note to Newsdesk:  The conference commences at 10.15 am and continues until 5 pm.