Tony Loughnan, Director of LHTDesign, has been identified as one of the select group of specialist timber consultants to support the new NZ Wood timber advisor service……..
Extract from recent blog….
NZ Wood’s New Timber Design Centre
NZ Wood’s soon-to-be-established Timber Design Centre aims to make trail-blazing in the commercial frontier easier for property developers, engineers and architects.
NZ Wood programme manager Geoff Henley says the aim is to provide the sort of ‘one-stop’ technical advice for the use of wood in non-traditional or commercial wood construction that the steel industry has traditionally provided.
With the generous help of consultant structural engineers, the Timber Design Centre’s core purpose is to help ‘convert’ developers to a wood construction option instead of concrete or steel. The centre will provide free concept feasibility advice, demonstrating the possibilities offered by modern wood construction technologies.
The centre will also provide general technical and engineering advice on the use of wood in non-residential buildings in addition to encouraging the ‘full-monty’ wood construction option.
Participating engineering consultancies include the four major firms; Beca, Aurecon, Opus, Holmes as well as specialists Mark Batchelar, Alistair Cattanach and Tony Loughnan.
A co-ordinator is currently also being recruited for the centre – expected to be someone with extensive industry experience and expertise in timber design……
The centre is expected to also have a close relationship to university engineering schools such as that at Canterbury, and the Structural Timber Innovation Company (STIC) which is researching and promoting new construction technology such as post-tensioned timber beams for multi-storey wooden buildings………..
The aim is to support and encourage property developers and engineers, possibly less familiar with using wood in these contexts, that wood is not only a viable choice, but that it’s the best choice.
http://nzwood.co.nz/industry-news/2011/04/21/lht-design-cutting-edge-engineering-for-cutty-sark-pavilion/
