The University of Pretoria (UP) has played a significant part in the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition’s (DTIC’s) Promotion of Timber Construction Steering Committee, which aims to address the promotion of the forest sector’s role in the green economy, states UP senior lecturer Schalk Grobbelaar.

The steering committee deals with wood products, wood energy and forest management forestry policy and the administrative framework, including the sustainable building, production, consumption and valuation of forest ecosystem services.

UP established a partnership with forestry company York Timbers in 2021. The partnership entailed the establishment of a transdisciplinary chair in data-driven wood structural engineering for a sustainable built environment and African bioeconomy.

The chair will facilitate interdepartmental research from various schools and institutes, including the Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute; the Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology; the School of Engineering; the School for the Built Environment; the School for Information Technology; and the Graduate School of Technology Management.

Read more:  Strategy outlines constructive value of wood - Schalk Grobbelaar, Engineering News, 5 August, 2022.