WCTE 2010 venue

An international conference on timber engineering was held in Riva del Garda, Italy, from 20-24 June. It was chaired by Professor Ario Ceccotti, from Italy’s Trees and Timber Institute, and co-chaired by Professor Jan-Willem van de Kuilen, Technische Universität München. The popularity of the event was reflected by over 700 international participants, with the biggest number coming from Japan (121 people). UK activity in timber engineering was represented by delegates from Accys Technologies, the Building Research Establishment, Enjily International, NBS, Rotafix, Titan Wood and the Universities of Bath, Brighton, Bristol, Cambridge, Coventry, Edinburgh Napier, Liverpool and Oxford Brookes.

The conference topics included grading and structural timber, hardwoods, laminated timber, design codes and standards, engineered wood products, architecture and structures, design and engineering tools, joints and fasteners, mechanical and service life modelling, seismic and racking design, failure analysis, environmental and cultural impact, and fire safety. An afternoon poster session was held under a wide-span, stressed skin, tensile structure roof.

A welcome event was held on the Sunday evening. The following night we retired to the Hotel du Lac et du Parc where we enjoyed a second reception with access to private lakeside gardens and entertainment from a male choir who performed mountain and popular folk songs.

The conference dinner was held at the Winery Rotari Mezzocorona where we dined under a spectacular glue-laminated timber roof (see image). After the conference, delegates went on technical visits to Rothoblaas and Holzbau, both of which supply the timber industry, and a tour which included an evening at the opera. The conference was a meeting of like minds devoted to the pursuit of timber engineering. It was a seamlessly successful and stimulating event.

Readers who would like a copy of the proceedings should contact the Secretariat, conference_s@wcte 2010.org. The proceedings contain information on timber engineering worldwide and are an invaluable aid to practitioners in the field. The conference programme can be found at www.wcte2010.org/conferenceprogram.php

Dr Martin Ansell FIMMM
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Bath