Cut-backs in cost leave timber facing the axe from the 2012 Olympic showpiece. B&E reports.

IT WAS meant to be a showcase for sustainable building, with timber at the core of its promise but, with spiraling costs and tight budgets, it appears timber’s ticket at the 2012 Olympic games is under threat.

The Hopkins-designed Velodrome, part of the £80m Velopark, now looks set to boast a steel roof, outraging pro-timber lobbyists who had hoped the Velodrome would be the one venue that would showcase sustainable timber.

Detailed designs for the venue are now underway, but sources close to the project have confirmed that steel will now get the nod for the shell-like roof design that Hopkins submitted in 2007.

One said: “Timber will be used for the cladding. It is a long span structure and I think they’re [The Olympic Delivery Authority] going with steel. So effectively the Velodrome will be clad in timber and the track will be timber.”

Lobbying for timber
Last month Labour MP and chairman of the All- Party Parliamentary Group for Forestry, Paddy Tipping, put forward an Early Day Motion calling for at least one of the major venues to be designed from wood.

It now appears the Velodrome will suffer a similar fate to the Aquatics Centre, also conceived as a timber support structure which has now been switched to steel.

There are now fears that as designs get finalised, timber will be the first material to go, as the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) looks to scrimp and save and get venues within budget.

So far the Aquatics Centre and the main stadium have progressed through detailed designs, leaving the Velodrome and the Media Centre possibilities for integral timber use.

Charles Trevor, a member of the Wood for Gold steering group, the campaign run by the timber industry to promote timber’s use at the games, said the news is disappointing.

He said the real issue and, unfortunately the ultimate argument, boils down to cost.

“They’ve [ODA] had to do risk costing and risk pricing, which includes durability and maintenance that tends to make timber uncompetitive, which is a shame.

“Steel is significantly less expensive than timber for the same span. It is certainly experiencing price increases for sure but, even in relative terms, it’s still cheaper.”

Peter Hogg, project manager at ECC Timber Engineering, says timber has a limitation on its usage in regards to structural spans. “Steel can be a more slender component over a greater span due to its sectional properties,” he says. “As a result timber can become an uneconomical solution.

“Timber will tend to inherently have bigger sections over a similar span and when you compare the cost of the two items on that basis, timber can come out as a less economic solution.”

With the 2012 games all about legacy, however, Hogg argues timber is a better option in terms of whole-life costing. “From a fire point of view, timber is more effective, as it has its own inherent fire resistance whereas steel doesn’t,” he says. “Equally, it can have less coatings and certainly more aesthetically pleasing coatings on it compared with a steel solution.”

In the running
Despite the knock-back, Trevor, who is also the managing director of Wood for Good, says the campaign still has a lot of work to do with the remaining opportunities for timber. “We’re not giving up the good fight just yet,” he says. “We still have a chance of a substantial chunk of the 100,000m2 of temporary demountable structures – things like ticketing offices and bridges. Unfortunately we haven’t been successful in getting more details out of the ODA on those. It is very frustrating.”

There will also be a series of timber frame spectator pods dotted in and around the main stadium for food stands, toilets and service areas.

In June, Wood for Good and the Timber Research and Development Association are launching a brochure aimed at specifiers of the Olympics about temporary and demountable timber structures.

Trevor is also boosted by the news that Zaha Hadid’s Aquatics Centre will carry more timber than was first thought. After scrapping the initial concept of using timber for the support structure, the ODA confirmed that it will have approximately 10,000m2 of timber used on it.

The Aquatics Centre is currently conceived as having a steel main support structure with timber cladding as the lining, both internally and externally. In essence anything that is on view will be in timber.

Despite being smaller that the main four venues, the ODA is considering using timber for the 12,000-capacity Basketball Arena, and there is a significant opportunity for timber frame construction within the Athletes’ Village.

Last month, ODA leader of construction products Dr Peter Bonfield said it estimates the Olympics will use 600,000m2 of hardwood, softwood and plywood during the 2012 games.

It will be used in everything from bridges to cladding; flooring to wall partitions.

In terms of the main sports structures, the ODA appears to be trying to maintain a wood element by having visual facades in timber, even if they are hiding away the truth about the main support.

Campaign reports
The Wood for Gold steering group meets once a month to decide actions to take for the campaign.

In the past six months it has been meeting with various engineers, architects and contractors involved with the Olympics building programme, which includes the likes of Arup, Bovis Lend Lease and Skanska.

Trevor says that despite being broadly in favour of using wood, he admits that timber is up against the same old problem. “I think there is a lack of expertise amongst the contracting and subcontracting industries. Not so much the architects. I think it is the contractors and subcontractors where the problem lies.”

Another challenge in getting the ODA to consider timber for long-span sports structures is convincing it that timber can fit the bill, as most of the examples used to put forward its case have come from abroad.

“We are very limited in the manufacturing capabilities here in the UK,” says Hogg. “We would tend to manufacture for smaller projects, but something of the size of the Olympics would have been a European supply.”

“The British construction industry is quite traditional,” says John White, chief executive of the Timber Trade Federation. “It is therefore very familiar with using steel and concrete to build with. My feeling is people just don’t know enough about timber. All the questions can be answered, but when people have questions they tend to fall back on what they know. I suspect that is playing on people’s minds.”

Tipping added he would carry on fighting, despite the Velodrome now looking like a lost cause. “It is extremely disappointing but the process is an opportunity for arguing the case for wood. It’s always been clear to me that if you’re going to have the most sustainable games ever then the upfront costs are probably going to be more than the cheaper options. We’ve got to be prepared to stand up and argue that the price is best in the long term, using sustainable products like wood.”

The ODA maintains final decisions about the use of materials for the Velodrome have not yet been made, despite hinting that timber will no longer be used for the structural support. A spokesman said: “It’s still got a timber roof. They’re still finalizing exactly what materials are going to be used on exactly what part of the roof and the rest of the structure.”