Why Flat Roofs and CLT Don’t Mix
Insights from Tamarind Engineering At Tamarind Engineering, we frequently review designs for buildings constructed with Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT). One trend we’ve noticed? Many of these designs feature flat roofs. While they may look sleek and modern, our experience tells us this is rarely a good idea. The Problem with Flat Roofs According to BS 6229:2018, […]
Castle Meadows Campus: Timber Mezzanine
We jumped at the chance to be involved in a project so close to our office. As part of the conversion of the old HMRC Amenities building for Nottingham University, Constructional Timber asked us to carry out the timber connection design for the new glulam and cross-laminated timber mezzanine floor. We’re pleased with how it […]
Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities: Timber Dome
Client – Timber dome: Constructional Timber (Manufacturers) Limited Client – brise soleil and erection: Novum Structures The centrepiece of the new Schwarzman Humanities Centre at Oxford University is the central domed skylight. Tamarind Engineering were asked to carry out the detailed structural design of the oak dome and develop a suite of details that responded […]
University of West of England roof
Client: Constructional Timber (Manufacturers) Limited The is a lovely roof, quite simple at first glance: a set of glulam beams spanning over an atrium space and supporting steel and cross-laminated timber northlights. The project engineer designed the beams and left the design of the cross-laminated timber panels and connections to the specialist. Constructional Timber asked […]
Birkbeck College
Client: B&K Structures Erecting a steel and CLT building on top of a 5-storey masonry building was never going to be a simple exercise. The big issues were connecting elements of different materials together and resisting lateral spread of the walls. Using our experience, we simplified the structure by changing the roof from a series of […]
Benenden School Centenary Hall timber roof
Client: Constructional Timber ( Manufacturers) Limited This Wood Award winning project is a curved roof formed by reciprocally supported members conceived by Holloway Studio. The project engineer had the member design; but to deliver it our client needed a connection design that could cope with the forces and the geometry at every point in the […]
St Thomas Church, Kilnhurst
Client: St Thomas’ Church/Graeme Renton Architecture This is an unusual project! Our client had a final design but needed engineering support during the site works. We don’t mind getting our hands dirty and were happy to assist. Heritage work has many interesting aspects; this design needed modification to suit and preserve existing graves and to ensure […]
North Shields Interchange
Client: Constructional Timber (Manufacturers) Limited How do you design connections for a glulam roof supporting ETFE air cushion roofs? It’s not straightforward because the air cushions impose a torsion on the supporting timber members. If you add some complex geometry into the mix you’ve got an awkward structure to design. Our client gave Tamarind Engineering […]
MFRA Training and Development centre
Client: Constructional Timber (Manufacturers) Limited The client needed to deliver this project but was struggling with cost. Tamarind Engineering proposed a change which reduced costs, simplified the structure and achieved the architects vision. By introducing a simple cross-laminated timber roof deck into this project the need for purlins, plan bracing and cantilever steelwork was removed, […]
UKAEA Gatehouse
Client: B&K Hybrid Solutions How do you design a cylindrical timber building? Do what B&K Hybrid Solutions did and ask Tamarind Engineering to help. Our client had received a good outline design but now they needed a complete final design including all the timber and steel connections. This gave us the opportunity to make some adjustments: […]