With the aim of increasing the specification of timber by design and engineering professionals, FWPA has published four new WoodSolutions technical design guides. The guides are based on the EXPAN system, which is the result of research by the Structural Timber Innovation Company (STIC), a unique collaboration between Australian and New Zealand commercial and academic partners to create innovative structural timber solutions.

The new EXPAN prefabricated construction system gives engineers, architects and building designers a new alternative to traditional steel and concrete construction systems – while offering the timber industry new opportunities to increase high-value product sales, by meeting the needs of this emerging market.

Experts predict that prefabrication will play an increasing role in the building and construction industries, and to date, these forecasts appear to be on track. The benefits of prefabrication include: safer workplaces, reduced onsite construction times, more control over variables like weather, increased quality and the economies of scale – realised through assembly line production processes.

EXPAN’s totally prefabricated technology is a timely entrant into the burgeoning prefabrication market. The EXPAN system mimics many of the structural benefits of concrete and steel, cleverly embedding post-tensioned tendons into timber to lock the components together. The EXPAN range of design solutions also includes innovative timber frame, wall and floor systems and quick-connect portal frames.

“This is an outstanding example of the value of collaborative and market-oriented research,” said Ric Sinclair, Managing Director of Forest and Wood Products Australia (FWPA); “the EXPAN system is in effect, new technology, developed by our industry to anticipate and meet the needs of our design and construction markets.”

Available from the WoodSolutions website (www.woodsolutions.com.au), the new guides are: 30 – Timber Concrete Composite Floors, 31 – Timber Cassette Floors, 32 – Long Span Roofs – Portal Frames and Trusses and 33 Quick-Connect Moment Connection.

– See more at: http://www.fwpa.com.au/forwood-newsletters/1075-new-technical-design-guides-to-accelerate-the-uptake-of-wood-products.html#sthash.AEmDjpFg.dpuf