About Bamboo

Task Force on Bamboo Construction

Posted on by BAMBOOEX

The Bamboo Construction Task Force, facilitated by INBAR, coordinates the activities of international research institutes and commercial companies interested in the structural uses of bamboo. Prior to the Task Force’s initiation, there was no coordination or communication between research teams working on this subject.

The Task Force supports INBAR’s membership of the Global Network for Sustainable Housing: the world’s premier knowledge network on sustainable housing, hosted by UN Habitat in Nairobi. Its overall objective is to act as the world’s premier information and knowledge center on the structural uses of bamboo.

The Task Force’s specific objectives are to:

  • Help drive and refine the development of new international standards on the structural uses of bamboo and review and update existing international standards;
  • Support global coordination and knowledge dissemination on sustainable bamboo construction;
  • Facilitate the development of pro-poor methodologies for designing and constructing sustainable bamboo housing;
  • Strengthen the capacity of construction sector stakeholders in sustainable bamboo housing;
  • Raise awareness and advocate for bamboo construction being mainstreamed in national housing policies and regulations.

Expected Task Force outputs and outcomes

Existing ISO standards on the structural uses of bamboo reviewed and, where necessary, updated every five years.

  • New standards developed and published in the following areas: strength grading, connection design, test methods, and determination of engineered bamboo material / product characterisation and specifications values;
  • New INBAR publications on bamboo construction and related technologies published and openly available online;
  • New project proposals jointly developed among Task Force members on bamboo construction, which will support new research, training and capacity building;
  • An increased number of INBAR Member States recognise bamboo construction in their national housing policy and regulations.

Successful implementation of these outputs is expected to generate the following outcomes:

  • Wider adoption of standards for bamboo at regional, national, and sub-national levels;
  • Increased application of structural uses of bamboo internationally;
  • Better targeted and coordinated research on the structural uses of bamboo, helping to drive development of the sector.

Task Force Members

Management team

Task Force Coordinator: Liu Kewei, Coordinator of the Global Bamboo Construction Programme at INBAR.

Task Force Chair: David Trujillo, Coventry University, UK.

Both the Coordinator and Chair are members of the ISO TC 165 Working Group 12 and are responsible for ensuring that the actions of the Task Force are integrated into ISO’s international standard development.

If you have any questions about the Task Force, please email kwliu@inbar.int

Core group of key experts

The Task Force consists of a core group of key experts who meet approximately once every year to discuss new standards and the amendment of existing ones, as well as to share latest research results and findings and agree on an annual action plan for the Task Force .

At present, the core group consists of 27 key experts, all of whom have significant experience working on bamboo construction and related technologies. Their profiles, expertise, and key publications are listed below.

Correspondence members

The Task Force also involves a group of correspondence members who can access documents and make recommendations to the core team. The expert group would have the final say on publications, documents, and action plans.

How to become a key expert of INBAR’s Construction Task Force

Read more: https://www.inbar.int/construction-task-force/