An Examination into the Threat of Fire to Timber Frame Construction in the UK

Since the dawn of early man timber has been used as a construction material. As the human race developed so did their buildings. As its name suggests, timber frame construction is a method of building that relies on a timber frame as a basic way of structural support. Many scholars remind us timber for constructional purposes varies widely throughout the world. He also claims that countries have tended to develop their own methods of construction depending largely on the availability of local raw materials and to a lesser extent on climate. This can be seen to be true of countries which have large areas of forestry such as North America, Canada and the Scandinavian countries. Approximately 95% of all homes built in the US and Scandinavia are of timber frame construction. The market share for new homes in the UK is just over 20% and that figure is expected to rise to over 30% in the next few years.

Timber frame is now a mainstream method of house building in England as it has been in Scotland for quite some time, where over 70% of homes are built using timber frame. Timber frame building is a simple concept and is well within the scope of anyone who has a working knowledge of general building practices. It uses plywood nailed to a timber framework to form a robust structural shell. They can be finished with a wide variety of external claddings such as brick, stone; cement based rendering systems, tile hanging, wood or plastic either singly or in a combination. The frame is completed first and then the cladding is applied. Plasterboard is used to internally line the building as soon as the building is watertight, and this can then be finished with many different materials.

Dissertation Aims and Objectives

This dissertation aims to provide a background into the development of the timber frame construction industry and investigate the threat of fire during the construction stage, and also to prove that timber can still be considered as a major construction component.

• To provide a background into the history, evolution, advancements and modern methods of timber-frame construction
• To provide an insight into the fire issues that has to be dealt with during the construction of timber-frame multi-story buildings
• To examine the new procedures that are being considered as a solution to the recent concerns with the fire safety of timber-frame buildings
• To find what Members of the construction industries views are towards the fire safety of timber-frame buildings
• To determine whether timber frame buildings can still play apart in the future of construction.

I do hope enjoyed reading this post on fire and timber frame construction. There are many other titles available in the construction dissertation collection that should be of interest to construction management students and building professional. There are many dissertation titles that relate to other aspects of construction such as project management techniques, environmental management, building and construction methods to name a few. It took a lot of effort to write this post and I would be grateful if you could share this post via Facebook and Twitter. Feel free to add your thoughts in the comments section. Thank you.

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