Your post Covid-19 business plan needs to Include Mass Timber

Size is absolutely everything

Small and medium enterprises form 70%+ of architecture and structural engineering businesses. Ranging in size from sole practitioners and micro-businesses to small and medium sized firms, these companies cumulatively employ many thousands of architects and engineers - indeed, the bulk of both professions. As 2020 draws to a close, they year will be forever remembered as the one in which Covid-19 restrictions significantly impacted on the daily of everyone and and on the work of almost every SME practice and consultancy. Forward business planning is unquestionably more challenging than ever before.

New business challenges

Looking to the future and a post-Covid recovery means thinking differently about the fundamentals of architecture and engineering practice. Working from home, even sporadically, is likely to be the norm for some time, and if this is true for you it will also be the case for your clients and others working in the fields of building development and construction. Where are new projects to come from? As responsible professionals, how best to respond to the climate emergency? What are the processes, products and systems to be used to ensure sustainability targets are met and a genuinely circular economy delivered?

Will you be one of the architecture and structural engineering leaders by 2030?

In times of change, clear focus is required to ensure the survival and future prosperity of your business. One thing is certain: throughout the world, design professionals and the construction industry are turning to solid laminate timber systems as the answer to many of the pressing questions that traditional building solutions are less able to respond to.

Research and development into new mass timber solutions is increasingly underpinning original, innovative thinking on the nature of building forms and types and, with 2030 carbon targets looming, the architects and engineers working in this field are destined to be the leading practices and consultancies throughout the remainder of this decade. Time therefore to make the leap: now is the moment to make the acquisition of knowledge and skill in the use of all forms of mass timber a central priority in your business plan for life and work beyond Covid-19.

Focused, career-long learning on mass timber for architecture and structural engineering businesses

The central plank of the Mass Timber Academy is aimed directly at architecture and structural engineering SME’s to ensure your business is able to access independent, objective education on this rapidly evolving area of construction and on the new developments emerging that are likely to change forever the way we think about building design. The Academy’s programme is designed to provide career-long, structured continuing professional education for you and your employees, enabling better staff retention whilst upskilling your team to respond effectively to the new opportunities offered by all-timber or hybrid timber construction systems.

The Mass Timber Academy programme for SMEs

Practice/consultancy membership of the Mass Timber Academy’s SME programme ensures, year-on-year, that your business is au fait with all the latest developments, regulatory changes and technical information needed to present mass timber design as a core competency of your business. The Academy’s SME programme has four distinct, but fully integrated, areas of focus: business and market development, technical training, creativity support and employee development. Each area is updated on an annual basis to ensure your business always has full access to state-of-the-art information. The programme is comprised of individual knowledge transfer components that care available either to a designated group/team within your business at a specific time, or on an individual employee basis at a time best suited to their own work schedule.

The future of practice/consultancy continuing professional education (CPE)

One more thing: this is not CPD as you have been used to. This is the future of career-long education for architects and structural engineers. The old adage applies: if something is worth having, it’s worth paying for. The Mass Timber Academy’s SME programme is priced to be affordable to every level of business in this category, ensuring that all of the education and information it offers is appropriate, independent and objective. It’s designed to make your business better in 2021 and beyond.