FEATURES
According to Grobbelaar , there should be a specific focus on the development of a market for CLT , LVL and other mass timber products . “ This is one of the reasons why the Chair at the University was established ,” says Grobbelaar . The Chair will have a multi-disciplinary approach and one of the main aims is to develop mass timber and to carry out research on wood manufacturing in South Africa . The research will include the forestry process all the way through to the final product .
“ A wide spectrum of research will be done under the Chair , but the main idea in the end is to develop mass timber in South Africa . To do this we need to understand and research the strength characteristics of timber and the wide variety of products that are being developed . At the same time , we need to concentrate on education and developing educational material for civil engineering and architect graduates . Education and research will be extremely important , as will the development of standards . South Africa , unlike other countries in the world , has limited standards to work with timber and we need to grow our own set of standards ,” says Grobbelaar .
CLT A SUSTAINABLE SOLUTION
In a post-Covid-19 world , where sustainability and climate change will be top of mind for most , timber products will remain popular . Timber technologies like CLT and LVL are already trending around the globe and have now arrived on South African shores . In countries like Canada , the US , Europe and Australia , timber materials have long been part of the sustainability and climate change debate . It has not been the same in South Africa , where any timber structure is still regarded by most people as inferior .
The engineering 4.0 facility is a place where novel ideas , scientific research , global expertise , students , academics , entrepreneurs , and industry partners can converge to generate new thought leadership , innovation , and training opportunities .
Timber has a prominent presence at the University of Pretoria ’ s engineering 4.0 facility .
www . timberiq . co . za // APRIL / MAY 2021 21