UGANDA, Kampala | Real Muloodi News | Glulam, ‘glued-laminated lumber, is finally breaking ground in Uganda and is set to transform Uganda’s timber and construction sectors. Glulam is an innovative modern architectural timber product that overcomes the defects of wood through technological production.
Glulam is a laminated timber structural solution that is used in a wide range of commercial and residential projects worldwide. This building material is ideal for long-span and curved designs because it provides strength without sacrificing aesthetics.
What is Glulam and Why is it Unique and Worth it?
Glulam is a short-term for glued laminated timber. It is a mass timber product commonly used for engineered timber structures in western countries. At its core, the composition of glulam is thin wooden boards bonded to a larger beam with a durable, moisture-resistant adhesive.
It has much lower embodied energy than reinforced concrete and steel, although it entails more embodied energy compared to solid timber.
However, the laminating process allows for using timber in longer spans, heavier loads, and more complex shapes than reinforced concrete or steel.
Glulam is one-tenth the weight of steel and one-sixth the weight of concrete; the embodied energy used in its production is one-sixth comparable to the strength of steel.
The flexibility of glulam makes it easy to produce in various shapes and sizes. It offers architects artistic freedom without sacrificing structural requirements. The high strength and stiffness of laminated timbers enable glulam beams and arches to cover enormous distances without intermediate columns, allowing more design flexibility than traditional timber construction.
Although glulam is considered an indispensable item in timber construction around the world, the product has yet to gain traction, because Uganda still uses tropical hardwood instead of softwood species, so the wood industry hasn’t invested in glulam production.
However, this is about to change thanks to a team assembled by a company called Fairventures Worldwide, under its flagship project, Lightwood.
The First Glulam Construction in Uganda
In 2019, Fairventures Worldwide implemented a project to build the first small glulam prototype in Uganda.
The initiative was designed to promote the popularity of glulam in the wood industry and to show the potential of mass timber products in Uganda. This called for an attention-grabbing prototype construction made of glulam: one that showcases the possibilities of the product.
However, having no infrastructure to produce glulam here, there was a need to find a simple way to manufacture the needed glulam beams without large investments in machinery.
Fairventures Worldwide worked with different partners in Uganda. A wood engineer from Bern in Switzerland lent his expertise. Global Woods, a forest company in Uganda, offered their support by providing the material of sawn lumbers from their plantation at Kikonda in Kyankwanzi. The local carpentry company KAVA International in Kampala provided its workshop, machines, and craft workers to help in the manufacturing process.
Thanks to the collaboration, Uganda has finally got its first prototype glulam construction. It has been successfully implemented and strategically placed at the Wampeewo Avenue police post near Jinja Road Roundabout in Kampala.
The prototype construction aims to inform the public in Kampala to expose a large target audience to the glulam construction, and it has certainly attracted a lot of attention and positive feedback from many people.
The prototype construction is now an interest to the onlookers which has prompted Fairventures Worldwide to expand the beneficial contribution by developing a professional company that will produce Mass Timber Products. Thus, Fairventures Worldwide suggests an in-depth study on this subject: currently under development, the MTCEA project.
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