A locally available, sustainable material

Firstly glulam is made from timber which is a susatainable resource that does not need to be mined and subjected to the high energy manufacturing processes of steel and concrete. All of our Glulam comes from well managed European forests and our covered by PEFC chain of custody.

Appearance

Glulam is often chosen over steel or concrete for its appearance. It can be sanded up and left exposed or finished and painted with timber finishing products.

Flexibility of size

Please see our Glulam stock profile for section sizes which are held in stock in our Hereford yard. We are also able to order in longer lengths on request and even different profiles.

Good strength to weight ratio

Timber has a good strength to weight ratio in comparison with steel and concrete. The ease of maunally handling glulam beams into roof spaces and tight sites is significantly greater than steel or concete. Another advantage is that smaller foundations are needed for a reduced structure weight.

Fire

Large section timber elements actually perform very well in fires. This is due to the way in which timber chars at a known rate and does not deform like steel. Fire performance of glulam has been the subject of extensive research and structural glulam members can be designed to last a certain period of time in a fire based on the rate at which it chars. Additional fire protective finishes can be used to further increase the fire performance.