Timber frame is one of the oldest methods of construction with wood structures existing for many centuries dating back to our ancestors. If we take a look at the history of wood construction, we can see that some of the oldest wood buildings date back to the 8th century.

In Japan and China there are splendid examples of timber frame buildings. The Buddhist temples in Japan date back to 700's. The oldest temple in Japan and one of the oldest surviving wood structures in the world is - The Horyu-ji temple, which was built around the start of the eight century. These wooden buildings have withstood a devastating earthquake, which struck Kyobe, Japan in 1994 outperforming other building types.

In North America wood is the primary structural material for buildings, 70% of homes built in the western world are timber frame. The 1964 earthquake in Prince William Sound, Alaska was one of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded in North America. Considering the magnitude of the earthquake very few lives were lost. According to the Geographical Institute of the University of Alaska part of the reason for this is due to the type of material used to construct many of the buildings. In the 1994 Northridge Earthquake California, 80% of the area consists of wood-frame construction. An assessment of damage was carried out and the EQE summary report concluded that the buildings did very well. This type of good performance is expected, as wood frame design is very resistant to damage regardless of the date of construction.

In Europe, Wood has also long been a dominant building material. Superb examples of wooden buildings can be found in Norway. The unique Stave churches are constructed of wood dating back to the 12th and 13th centuries. These churches are popular tourist destinations and have withstood large numbers of visitors throughout the years. Urnes stavkirke is on the UNESCO list of World heritage. The list contains areas or objects of irreplaceable value from a cultural or environmental point of view.

According to the NHBC latest statistics for quarter 2 2003, 72% of homes built in Scotland are timber frame, which has a very similar climate to Ireland. Timber frame construction is growing in Ireland and is now stronger than ever. In 2002, timber frame construction accounted for 18% of new builds in Ireland.

Timber is a renewable and sustainable building material. A number of factors favour wood in ecological construction: The manufacture of wood products consumes little energy, wood structural elements are easy to repair and trees absorb carbon dioxide. With the quantity of information available on how to protect wood from decay and fire there is no reason why timber frame buildings cant last forever. (From http://www.century.ie)