Timber specialist hosts open day for architects and structural engineers

James Jones & Sons' new visitor building at its flagship sawmill site in Lockerbie has attracted considerable interest in the architectural and engineering communities and has won a number of awards including the RIAS, Edinburgh Architectural Association and the Scottish Design Awards.

It was also shortlisted for the Doolan Award as one of Scotland’s buildings of the year.

Designed by Edinburgh architects, Konishi Gaffney, the building is a showcase for James Jones’s own timber products and for timber construction in general.

As a result of the widespread interest, James Jones & Sons hosted an open day for architects and structural engineers so that they could see the building for themselves and also have the opportunity to have a tour of the UK’s most technically advanced sawmill operation.

As well as the chance to see the building and the sawmill operation, Dr Dan Ridley-Ellis, Head of the Centre for Wood Science and Technology at Napier University, gave a talk on the structural properties of UK timber, which included the principles of timber grading and making the most of British production. He was supported by Abel and Grant from James Jones Timber Systems Division.

Rob MacKenna, General Manager South Operations, said “We’ve really enjoyed welcoming guests to our site today. We as a company are keen to engage with our supply chain stakeholders to encourage the use of C16 timber throughout the industry and to remove any barriers in preventing UK timber being specified in construction.

“All of the architects and engineers we’ve met today are already passionate about utilising wood in renovation and new build projects and it’s been great to open the dialogue on identifying opportunities to use more of the UK timber resource in these applications”