Renaissance for wood

FROM MAN'S earliest days wood has been used as an important building material. 'The Epic of Gilgamesh', the oldest surviving written story, talks about the magnificent wooden palaces and temples built in mesopotamia during the early Bronze age of 3000BC. When it comes to traditional houses, timber framing dates back to neolithic times. The shortage of timber and the advent of bricks and mortar curtailed its dominance in the developed world, but the dawn of the modern sustainable culture has given it a new lease of life. Timber and wood-based engineered products are becoming very important as structural materials, especially in the drive towards sustainable technologies and construction.