Running from February to August, the now-concluded 2026 series of designTimber webinars explored the opportunities and challenges of designing and building with timber across a diverse range of projects and settings.
Across the series, the seven webinars – delivered by the architects, structural engineers, specialist timber subcontractors, clients and fabricators behind the projects – attracted more than 1,140 live attendees and provided more than 60,000 minutes of learning.
While the projects varied considerably in scale and typology, a number of common themes emerged: how to make the most of timber’s structural and material properties; how to design for resource efficiency and adaptability; and how timber can provide innovative responses to some of the built environment’s most pressing challenges.
Timber in the public realm
The series began with the Wood Awards Gold Award-winning Urban Nature Project where two new buildings reinvigorate the grounds and public outreach of the Natural History Museum in London. Built from glulam and solid Douglas fir combined with British limestone and Western red cedar cladding, the new café and educational pavilion show how careful use of natural materials can have a positive environmental impact and encourage greater connection to nature.
The presentation on Westminster Coroner’s Court was delivered by Rachel Elliott (Lynch Architects), Hannes Voss (Eurban) and Richard Woods (Andy Thornton Worldwide Interiors)
Further projects in the series explored how timber can contribute to ambitious civic and public infrastructure, including in challenging urban environments. At Westminster’s Coroner’s Court, a new two-storey CLT extension forms part of the wider expansion and renovation of the original Grade II-listed coroner’s court. The project offered valuable insight into why CLT construction and timber interiors were especially well suited to this very sensitive setting.
At Rafter Walk, a 170-metre-long footbridge that crosses the water at the revitalised Canada Dock in London used sustainably sourced, durable, tropical hardwood for the balustrade, deck and substructure alongside a steel primary structure. The project demonstrated how different structural materials can work together to deliver technically robust and highly contextual infrastructure.
Doing more with what already exists
Various projects in the series demonstrated the potential of timber to support resource-efficient approaches to construction. At New Wave House, a rooftop extension in North London used Douglas fir glulam to add 495 sqm of flexible workspace to an existing light industrial building, making efficient use of the existing structure while maximising new floor space. Materials were also salvaged from other projects wherever possible, demonstrating how timber construction can be part of a broader approach to adaptive reuse and resource efficiency.
The innovative design and fabrication of the Armadillo was presented by Theo Games Petrohilos (Unknown Works), Jim Johnstone (ConstruktCLT) and Sen Perez (Xilonor CLT).
Pine Heath explored these principles through the timber-led retrofit of a modernist townhouse. Combining the refurbishment of original timber features with highly crafted new timber insertions, the project demonstrated the contribution that joinery and carefully considered timber interventions can make to transforming an existing interior – while delivering significant energy upgrades.
Material innovation
The Armadillo, a demountable outdoor sound pavilion, offered a very different perspective in the series with its boundary-pushing approach to sustainable architecture, acoustic design and advanced timber construction. Built from a newly engineered hybrid combination of eucalyptus and pine CLT, the project demonstrated how innovation in timber engineering can open up new possibilities for temporary and specialised structures.
Timber in housing
Richard Heath (Momentum Engineering) and Ken Rorrison (Hackney Council) presented the CLT-framed Chowdhury Walk
With social and affordable housing a crucial area of focus for the timber industry, Chowdhury Walk provided a practical example of how panelised CLT can be used to deliver high-quality homes on constrained urban sites. Winner of the Residential Award in the 2025 Wood Awards, the project created eleven new homes – seven for social rent and four for private sale – on a plot previously occupied by garages and ad-hoc parking in Hackney. Hearing directly from the structural engineer and local authority client provided insight into the practical considerations behind delivering sustainable, low-cost timber housing.
Together, the seven webinars exposed the breadth of possibilities offered by timber, but also the importance of taking a considered, project-specific approach to its use. From structural innovation and material efficiency to retrofit, housing and public infrastructure, the series showed how built environment specialists are finding new ways to work with timber and make the most of its unique properties.
The entire series was provided free of charge as part of TDUK’s mission to educate the industry on good timber design and construction and to platform outstanding examples. Live, the sessions offered an interactive learning environment for built environment professionals to share knowledge and learn from each other. Now available as a recorded online archive, they continue to provide a valuable resource for anyone looking to deepen their understanding of timber design and construction.
Missed any of the live sessions? Catch up with the full designTimber 2026 series on the TDUK YouTube channel.
