The 2025 series of designTimber webinars explored six award-winning buildings, each showcasing a different exemplary use of timber in construction. Featuring a modular holiday home, a ‘Living Lab’ for timber engineering, a multi-storey light-industrial workspace, a sweet chestnut-clad extension, a science and technology block, and a woodland sauna, all the talks can be watched below.
Delivered by seventeen leading architects, engineers, contractors, specialist subcontractors and clients, the six talks showed the incredible breadth of recent timber design innovation in the UK, and the design detail, construction systems and products behind the projects. The webinars have provided CPD learning for over 850 live attendees and have subsequently been watched more than 1,400 times on our YouTube channel.
Kicking off the series was a presentation of NMITE’s Skylon Campus, delivered by Bond Bryan Architects, Hybrid Structures, Speller Metcalfe and NMITE. Centring on the intensive collaboration between designers, contractors and client, the webinar explored how the structure was optimised using a hybrid solution; the evolution of the design for maximum cost efficiency; and how the completed building is being used as a hands-on teaching space.
A second mass timber educational project was showcased in designTimber this year: a new science and technology campus for Haileybury school, presented by Hopkins Architects, Integral Engineering and Atelier Ten. With speakers from across the design team, the webinar offered a wide scope of information: from design concept to engineering detail to in-depth considerations of embodied and operational carbon. Viewers learnt how the design connected the existing historic school architecture with new high-performance cross-laminated timber additions.
Attendees of the WorkStack session – presented by dRMM architects, changebuilding and B&K Structures – learnt how engineered timber can be used at scale with efficient design, low embodied carbon, and well-managed fire and moisture strategies. The speakers laid out the innovative approach to the site location, the use of CLT to create overhanging floors, insight into carbon analysis, fire safety considerations and construction management.
Two sessions looked at very different usages of homegrown timber to create characterful rural homes. Showing how timber can be used to compliment a historical stone building, the Old School House webinar provided an in-depth discussion on the specification of sweet chestnut for the facade of a beautiful new extension, and how it was detailed. Delivered by Bindloss Dawes Architects, Momentum Engineering and English Woodlands Timber, the talk considered how detailing can impact weathering and offered advice on making the most of local supply chains.
A session focused on Koto House, presented by Koto Design and Hiraeth Architecture, provided attendees with a vivid and inspiring demonstration of the potential of modular construction for remote sites. The speakers explored the challenging logistics of transporting large pre-fabricated components from Wales to the Outer Hebrides and discussed routes to increasing use of C16 native woodland species in structural design.
Ending the series with a small innovative project, the final webinar looked at the creative Drying Shed Sauna, presented by architect-makers and clients Built Works and Architects Holiday. Discussing the design inspiration, experimentation and use of natural, often locally sourced materials, the speakers reflected thoughtfully on the practical knowledge gained through the self-build process, and what they might do differently next time.
Forming a core part of TDUK’s mission to inform and inspire our current and future timber design professionals, each CPD presentation was followed by a Q&A session in which attendees were able to put their questions directly to the panelists.
We would like to thank all of the contributors to designTimber, for generously sharing their timber knowledge, and all of our attendees for participating in the webinars and bringing their insightful questions.
