Complete issue (December 2012)

Letters this month include discussions on the carbon embodiment in buildings, builder's design software, structural assessment of LPS and concerns between timber safe load tables.

Jon Morris advocates seeing beyond initial embodied CO 2 figures and to think in terms of whole-life carbon content when considering the sustainability of a project.

Exposure trials on timber cladding are valuable sources of information for facade designers. Key material, fire, and structural issues affecting timber cladding design are assessed and robust construction details derived alongside a framework for the emerging sub-discipline of timber facade engineering.