The Glued Laminated Timber Association (GLTA) has welcomed new member Inwood Developments Ltd., of Lewes, East Sussex, which specialises in the manufacture of timber buildings, cladding, glulam beams and high quality timber components using home grown and European certified sustainable timbers.

Representing the leading producers and suppliers of glulam in the UK since 1987, the GLTA has Corporate Members who provide total solutions, including technical advice, calculations and drawings as well as delivery and erection services. Recently, it has recognised that producers and suppliers of materials and services associated with glulam are also important, to complete the necessary range of services.

This has led to the opening up of an Associate Membership category. Such members, often SMEs, provide items such as repair systems, metal fasteners and timber connectors, also wood surface finishes and treatments. Some Associates, with Inwood being an example, are also low-volume specialist laminators, carpenters and joiners.

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The GLTA thus offers greater flexibility for a rapidly growing membership - others are in the pipeline. The merits of glulam are quite well known, although there is always scope for reminders. Amongst its assets are larger, longer and more evenly dried members than those obtained simply by sawing a normal log, an important consideration with Sweet Chestnut, which is sourced from reinvigorated coppices, mainly in the Weald of England.

The sustainability of glulam has come to be greatly appreciated, leading to a very significant growth in its use. This coincides well with the ethos of Inwood, who have developed home grown Sweet Chestnut and other timbers having a short supply chain, thus encouraging woodland conservation and complementing local enterprises. As one of the few naturally durable British hardwoods, Sweet Chestnut requires no chemical treatment to attain a service life span exceeding the re-growth of the coppices, thereby making it carbon positive.

As well as reviving the use of Sweet Chestnut, the firm also fabricates with European Oak, Ash and British grown Douglas Fir, Larch and Cedar. Their finger-jointing machine, unique in England, is capable of producing elements up to 12 metres long, thus helping to fabricate shaped beams, unusual curves and grid-shell laths for example. Recently completed has been the glulam for the Visitor Centre at the Bishops Palace, Wells Cathedral, Somerset, in Sweet Chestnut, and an English grown Larch glulam frame protecting the mosaics and walls of Chedworth Roman Villa in Gloucestershire.

(CD)