News
January 20, 2010
Grasp Eurocode 5 nettle, TRADA urges members
TRADA has published a second Construction Briefing on Eurocode 5
Design of timber structures, aiming to address the confusion which apparently surrounds the withdrawal of BS 5268 and the reluctance within the design community to embrace the European codes.
April 1st 2010 marks the end of three years' coexistence of British national structural design standards and the Eurocodes. In fact, the British Standards Institute (BSI) withdrew much of BS 5268 Structural use of timber in November 2009, four months earlier than the industry expected. The Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG), which produces the Building Regulations for England and Wales, announced in December 2009 that Approved Document A - Structure (last amended in 2004) is unlikely to be amended again before 2013, despite its reference to what will shortly become obsolete national standards.
Written against this somewhat confusing backdrop, the new TRADA Construction Briefing Embracing Eurocode 5 urges the timber industry to accelerate its migration to EC5. Membership & Marketing Manager Rupert Scott said, ‘EC5 will not become mandatory in the foreseeable future, but is likely to grow in dominance for several reasons, not least because structural engineers will become increasingly nervous of working to BS 5268 for fear of being sued in the event of a problem.'
Nor, he added, should the impact of the different design philosophy be underestimated. ‘Timber engineers who are grappling with limit state design and moving from the "design aid" style of BS 5268 to the heavy "number crunching" needed for EC5 may find the transition difficult. The increased reliance on software and the complete change in mindset may prove too difficult for some, but that should not be allowed to hold back forward-thinking practices.'
In TRADA's view, notwithstanding that it would be better if the Approved Document A were immediately amended to specify the Eurocodes, the migration to EC5 will be customer-led. This will be by either public sector procurement policy or specification by the leading structural engineers in private sector projects.
There are, too, several reasons to be optimistic about adopting the Eurocode. Moving to EC5 will put timber on the same design basis as steel and concrete and this unified approach to design will make it easier for designers in the mainstream materials to offer timber alternatives. Also, some product sectors, such as glulam, have already found that EC5 designs offer better economy.
The UK is now committed to the change, Mr Scott added. ‘Converting from BS 5268 to EC5 is rather like removing an Elastoplast. It's probably cheaper and more efficient to endure a short, sharp pain than to peel it back slowly and to drag out the discomfort for several years.‘
To view the construction briefing. For further information see:
- The Eurocodes Expert website, an Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) and Institution of Structural Engineers (IStructE) initiative to provide a free online information resource on the new BS structural Eurocodes - http://www.eurocodes.co.uk/
- The Institution of Structural Engineers -http://www.istructe.org/
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