The information in this first iteration of the Fire Safety. Wood in Construction website has been provided by technical and industry experts from the UK and Sweden, and has been reviewed by a separate expert Reference group drawn from the UK timber industry and independent consultants. We believe it is a credible and independently verified introduction to timber and fire safety information. It will be updated as new information and research results become available.

If you aware of research not listed on this site, please use the feedback form to let us know. If in scope, we will ensure it is included in our next update.

Editor

Prof Julie Bregulla FREng, Dipl.-Ing, PhD, CEng, FICE, MEWI

Experience

Professor and Director of Innovation at TEDI-London. Chair of TC250/WG6 horizontal group robustness of structures, and member of Standing Committee on Structural Safety (SCOSS).

She was Executive Director of the BRE (Building Research Establishment) Fire and Building Technology Group and BRE Group Technical Director, with over 20 years’ experience working in academia, consulting and construction, active in research, testing and certification of construction products and systems, including timber. She was Standardisation expert and Structural Integrity Framework lead for the Department for Levelling up, Housing and Communities, and former technical secretariat to the UK Building Regulations Advisory Committee. She held chair of Sector Group 18 of Notified bodies: Structural Timber, is a current member of TC250 Design of Structures (the ‘Eurocodes’) and national mirror committee work and co-chair of the ICE community advisory board on engineering fundamentals (ICE), as well as holding board and trustee positions, including the Institution of Civil Engineers.

Awards include the ICE Howard Medal and Best Innovate UK project.

Publications

Author of over 350 reports, papers and industry briefing covering various aspects of structural and fire engineering, co-author of ICE ‘In Plain Sight’ and current member of editorial board of Forensic Engineering.

Authors

Dr Björn Källander PhD, MSc. 

Experience

R&D Consultant in wood materials and processing. President of WoodHolz Consult AB. Chair of CEI-Bois WG Construction, Subgroup Fire.

He has over almost 40 year’s research experience relating to engineered wood products and processing, with a focus on applied research, quality control methodology, and process up-scaling. He has extensive experience in national and international standardization, and in fire safety issues relating to wood materials and designs. He has worked at Swedish Wood as Director of Research and Standardization, at Stora Enso and AssiDomän Timber as R&D Project Manager, and at SP Swedish Technical Research Institute, presently RISE, as R&D Project Manager.

Publications

Scientific publications and patents mainly related to drying and modification of wood, gluing and engineered wood products.

Dr Birgit Östman PhD, MSc.

Experience

Senior researcher and Emeritus in Building Technology, Linnaeus University, Växjö, Sweden. Chair of Fire Safe Use of Wood network and key technical expert on certification without further testing standardization.

She has over 40 year’s experience in fire research, with a specific focus on fire safety in timber buildings. Her work covers research and standardization, spanning reaction to fire, fire resistance, active fire protection, building regulations and industrial applications. She has co-ordinated major national and international projects, is an expert in international standards committees, including the WoodWisdom project, FireInTimber, and has worked at wood research organizations such as STFI (Swedish Forest Products Research Institute) and Trätek (Institute for Wood Technology Research).

Awards include Bernadotte Royal Award, Swedish Forestry Association 2016 and the Markwardt Award for best paper in Wood and Fibre Science 2018-2019.

Publications

Her publications include numerous scientific and technical papers in peer-viewed journals, proceedings, research reports and guidelines. Her most recent publication is Fire Safe Use of Wood in Buildings – Global Design Guide, published together with world-wide colleagues by Taylor and Frances in 2022 and available for free download at DOI: 10.1201/9781003190318-1.

James Walker MEng MSc CEng MIStructE MICE

Experience

James Walker is a chartered structural engineer and Technical Director at Milner Associates engineering consultancy.  He is a technical consultant to the Structural Timber Association (STA), providing guidance on the structural, fire and durability design of timber buildings and has a specific interest in low-energy construction.  He is an expert in the structural design, appraisal and repair of timber buildings and has recently provided his expertise to help develop the fire test campaign and technical justification that underpins the STA’s fire safety in use guidance documents.

James is a member of the European committee responsible for Eurocode 5 on the fire design of timber structures and chairs the British standards committee responsible for the associated Eurocode 5 national guidance documents.

Publications

James has published many papers, articles and guidance documents on the design and construction of timber buildings.  His most recent publications include STA Structural Timber Buildings Fire Safety In Use Guidance Volume 1 – Pattern Book Systems v2.2 September 2022 and INTER 55 – 16 – 4 The Fire Protection of Timber Members Using Gypsum Boards, August 2022.

Björn Yndemark BSc, Fire Protection Engineering, Department of Fire Safety Engineering, Lund University

Experience

Currently a partner at YHR Consulting AB, Björn is a fire consultant designing and inspecting complex wooden projects. He is one of Sweden’s leading experts in wooden structures and has extensive experience working with international and function-based fire safety regulations.

Björn has worked as a Fire Engineer Consultant since 1997. From 2000-2008, he was co-owner and fire consultant at Øresund Safety Advisers AB. From 2008-2011 he worked as Business Developer and Technical Director within the areas of fire, risk and safety at Tyréns, and from 2011-2022 he was Associate Director for Fire & Risk at WSP.

Reference group and fact checkers

Prof Julie Bregulla (Group leader)
Matt Linegar, Research and Development Director, Stora Enso
Nick Boulton, Head of Technical and Trade, Timber Development UK, and Chief Executive, Trussed Rafter Association
Gordon Ewbank, Director, Wood Protection Association
Martin Milner, fire consultant to Structural Timber Association
Matt Hoad, Technical Director and Associate Partner, HTA Design LLP
Alan Dowdall, Director, Ramboll UK Ltd
Kelly Harrison, Director, Whitby Wood
Esko Mikkola, Chief Fire Safety Expert, KK-Fireconsult Ltd
Dr Björn Källander