Natural Materials Association

The first UK body representing the breadth of natural materials has been launched by IOM3

The Natural Materials Association (NMA) will provide a much-needed focus for a diverse range of natural materials, including wood, stone, clay/ceramic, natural rubber, wool, leather, hemp, etc, as well as enabling an improved understanding of biomimicry (learning from nature).

The formation of this body was announced at the Natural Fibres conference, a UK event celebrating the United Nations’ International Year of Natural Fibres, and will build upon the recent integration of the Institute of Wood Science within IOM3 to create IWSc: The Wood Technology Society.

The NMA will form an important bridge to the product design community as well as outreach to schools and higher education. It will also enable greater interaction and networking between individual natural materials communities, and will support the growth of these links across the global membership of IOM3.

Further details will appear here as they become available. In the meantime this page contains links to selected content from the IOM3 website on specific natural materials as well as natural materials in general.

News

World Conference on Timber Engineering - WCTE 2010

World Conference on Timber Engineering venue

A report on the international conference on timber engineering held in Riva del Garda, Italy, from 20-24 June.

Wood technology, 31 Aug 2010

Down to the woods - quality control

COST, the intergovernmental framework for European Cooperation in Science and Technology, has been running a series of R&D programmes in wood. Martin Parley reports on the final Cost Action E53 conference on quality control, held at Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh, UK.

Wood Focus Magazine, 27 Aug 2010

Building in carbon

A technique for carbon profiling, as a solution for quantifying embodied and operational carbon in buildings, has been put forward in a report commissioned by the UK’s Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors.

Wood Focus Magazine, 27 Aug 2010

Unsung heroes? Profile of Bill Bolsover, chairman of the UK’s Construction Products Association

The new Chairman of the UK’s Construction Products Association, Bill Bolsover, has never been scared to get his hands dirty, which is good as he takes on the post at an uncertain time for the industry. This former miner and concrete plant manager talks to Rupal Mehta about the need for stronger Government backing for a sector that is vital to the UK economy and covers a myriad of product areas.

Wood Focus Magazine, 27 Aug 2010

Features

Please note features can only be viewed in full by IOM3 members. Become a member

Board to death - health and safety for timber scaffolding boards

A broken timber board showing wild grain

An important use of timber is in scaffolding boards for construction workers. Jim Coulson, Director of Technology For Timber Ltd, in Ripon, UK, highlights the grading problems compromising health and safety.

Wood Focus Magazine, 31 Aug 2010

Forest of females - women foresters in World War Two

The role of women in the Second World War has only recently been fully recognised, but their contributions extend to many areas. Barry Matthews outlines the activities of the women who went into the forest when duty called.

Wood Focus Magazine, 31 Aug 2010

Schooled in timber - using wood for the construction of schools

St Lukes School, Architype Ltd, Wolverhampton, UK

What benefits can be gained by using wood for the construction of schools and what are the key issues to consider? Gary Price investigates

Wood Focus Magazine, 31 Aug 2010

All the whey - packaging made from dairy products

Markus Schmid, Florian Wild and Karin Agulla, all of the Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging IVV, Freising, Germany, outline the initial results of a project to produce recyclable and biodegradable packaging from dairy products.

Packaging Professional Magazine, 14 Jul 2010