John Weaver Contractors LTD’s Post

Transforming Education and Bridging Opportunities: The Key to a Thriving Society Discover how breaking down barriers and expanding access to trades like flooring, carpentry, and more can reshape our society. Explore the importance of alternative education paths and the construction industry's significant role in our economy. #TransformingEducation #BreakingBarriers #ExpandingOpportunities #AlternativeEducation #ConstructionIndustry #BuildingTrade #ReshapeSociety #OpportunityAccess #SkillDevelopment #ThrivingSociety

A Must read! I enjoyed sitting down with On The Tools to discuss a very important topic in construction. Have a read below to find out my thoughts on how we revitalise the traditional crafts sector. https://lnkd.in/eBNSMejU

At the University of Toronto, just across the street from the football stadium, workers are putting up a 14-story building with space for classrooms and faculty offices. What’s unusual is how they’re building it — by bolting together giant beams, columns and panels made of manufactured slabs of wood. As each wood element is delivered by flatbed, a tall crane lifts it into place and holds it in position while workers attach it with metal connectors. In its half-finished state, the building resembles flat-pack furniture in the process of being assembled. The tower uses a new technology called mass timber. In this kind of construction, massive, manufactured wood elements that can extend more than half the length of a football field replace steel beams and concrete. Though still relatively uncommon, it is growing in popularity and beginning to pop up in skylines around the world. https://lnkd.in/dGGrTYSh

Every now and then, we're asked about the differences between timber framing and post and beam construction. Our latest blog post covers key distinctions and benefits of these popular construction methods. Check out the full article here: https://lnkd.in/eyW-Fmtx #TimberFraming #PostAndBeam #Construction #Building #Architecture #ConnextPostAndBeam #posttobeam

Construction could start by spring 2025.

One of our worst to date out in hereforshire. The poor client on this project had a builder lined up to do the works who got cold feet and jumped ship never to be seen again (seems to be a recurring theme for us), luckliy we had a cancellation for a large job and were able to accomodate them within a few months. Once we got started with some opening up works, the true extent of damage became apparent, we literally took the weight of the roof off the walls and a couple of the brick infills nearly fell out! Brick infill should only ever be that, infill, the structural timber frame should always be taking load. You know its bad when all the primary timbers have decayed to the point of failure leaving the infills to become load bearing through piles of rot where beams used to be! Usual suspects, plastic paint, cement laid masonry, cement fillet covering sole plate. Several active deathwatch lavae and beetle found during repairs. Consent for these works granted in 2009! We started works based on a listed building consent from about 3 years ago but it quickly became apparent that application would not cover the scope of works required so we have proposed all the required documentation and full set of drawings to support a new listed building consent application. New proposals included, removal of black paint, extensive repairs and replacement, reinstatment of previously removed timbers, new infill/ wall construction, plinth repairs, new windows and hopefully reinstatement of a ledge and brace door to the truss gable for which we have evidence of as there are pintle hinges still in the truss studs. Getting close to completeing phase 1 now, top marks to our herefordshire team on this one. Also a huge shout out to the client for funding this enormous task and saving this peice of our heirtage, often the proffesionals and craftsmen/women are praised for the work on these heritage projects but also raise a glass to those funding the saving of these heritage assets!

Built Environment Campus of West Suffolk College We were invited to the Built Environment Campus of West Suffolk College, taking our team, mixing lorry and materials to demonstrate the laying of a limecrete floor. The students assisted with all elements of the work. Two limecrete pads were laid with a recycled foam glass insulation layer. These pads are to be the bases for mini traditional builds which the students will be involved in over the coming year. It was a pleasure to teach these students about the benefits of a breathable floor, explaining how limecrete floors work well with historic buildings as well as being suitable for new eco builds. The Bury St Edmunds Town Trust are leading this project with West Suffolk College and are passionate that traditional building skills and methodology are taught to students entering the construction industry, ensuring they gain a wide level of knowledge and techniques for preservation as well as modern buildings methods. It was an honour to be able to give to this project.

I am very pleased to share that our state has adopted the 2021 Michigan Building Code - to take effect April 9, 2025 - including all the #masstimber elements from the 2021 International Building Code (IBC). We are a bit behind the adoption curve on getting these codes in place, so this regulatory move is playing catch-up a bit with our #MIMassTimberMomentum, including 50+ projects in the pipeline, interest in mass timber production here, and an ever-expanding mass timber community of practice. So, very happy about this progress AND I hope that we will see the 2024 IBC in Michigan Building Code much faster than we saw 2021.

At the University of Toronto, just across the street from the football stadium, workers are putting up a fourteen-story building with space for classrooms and faculty offices. What’s unusual is how they’re building it—by bolting together giant beams, columns and panels made of manufactured slabs of wood. As each wood element is delivered by flatbed, a tall crane lifts it into place and holds it in position while workers attach it with metal connectors. In its half-finished state, the building resembles flat-pack furniture in the process of being assembled. The tower uses a new technology called mass timber. In this kind of construction, massive, manufactured wood elements that can extend more than half the length of a football field replace steel beams and concrete. Though still relatively uncommon, it is growing in popularity and beginning to pop up in skylines around the world. Today, the tallest mass timber building is the twenty-five-story Ascent skyscraper in Milwaukee, completed in 2022. As of that year, there were eighty-four mass timber buildings eight stories or higher either built or under construction worldwide, with another fifty-five proposed. Seventy percent of the existing and future buildings were in Europe, about 20 percent in North America and the rest in Australia and Asia, according to a report from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. When you include smaller buildings, at least 1,700 mass timber buildings had been constructed in the United States alone as of 2023. https://lnkd.in/gcbE57-6

Our Mary Ward Legal Centre project was featured in 'First Look' in the Architects’ Journal last week. A disused 1970s four-storey office building in Stratford - previously known as Queensway House - has been transformed with a vertical extension of two extra storeys and a full refurbishment to cater for the expanding needs of Mary Ward Centre, a century old adult education charity. Mary Ward obtained a loan from the 'Skills for Londoners Capital Fund' to renovate Queensway House. Environmental considerations were crucial, requiring the reuse of the existing frame for funding approval. The two additional storeys are constructed using steel framing and concrete slab on metal deck. New steelwork strengthens the existing slab and columns, left exposed to highlight the interface between the new and existing structural modifications. An exposed structure suited the budget and low carbon design goals. We implemented a rigorous process of investigation, calculation, and verification to ensure we designed an efficient building and avoided the use of unnecessary materials. Working with the existing structure we aimed to minimise interventions, collaborating closely with the design team to utilise the buildings capacity where possible. This involved numerous design iterations and close collaboration. The frame was fully modelled in Revit, our technicians used the EOC ECO2 plug-in to calculate the volume of new material and the Structural Carbon Tool for CO2 amounts for individual elements. The refurbishment option demonstrated a 40% reduction in embodied carbon when compared to constructing a new building, excluding demolition of the frame, with the refurbishment and extension meeting LETI's targets. Mary Ward Centre provides services to 5,500 students every year. The opening of this building marked a significant milestone for Mary Ward and we're delighted to have been involved. Huge well done to all on the client and design teams, and to all of the stakeholders involved in some of the decision-making along the way. https://lnkd.in/e8CK7Vjw Beadmans LLP Curo Construction ltd AWW Featherstone, Project + Construction Management RBA Acoustics Ltd MLM Group Soils Limited Mike Davies Alison Wallis Alex O'Reilly Callum Nowell #structuralengineering #engineering #retrofit #retrofirst #refurbishment #verticalextension