Wood Research & Development
Safety & condition verdicts
Repairs, restorations, new builds
Accredited, non-destructive methods
Our Projects
Five hundred-plus projects completed, with reach across 55 countries: bridges, buildings, and landmarks inspected, engineered, and restored on the record. A selection, filterable by country.
Project Record
USACommissioned by Stantec Engineering, WRD inspected the two timber highway bridges of the Keystone Wye Interchange and found them in good shape with some maintenance needed. WRD's fix (diffusing decayed elements, epoxy-filling girder-to-deck gaps, and re-staining the timber) should add another 50 years of useful life, with follow-up testing recommended within two years.
CanadaOpened December 2019 in Nappan, Nova Scotia, the Roger Bacon Bridge is the longest clear-span three-lane timber bridge in Canada, a 40 m glulam arch built for a 75-year design life at a cost of about $3 million. The project won WoodWorks Atlantic's Top Award, Jurors Award, and Wood Champion in 2022.
USAWingspread, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1938–39 and now a Johnson Foundation conference facility, centers on a large domed living room. Snow loading and removed shear walls had pushed the bearing walls outward and cracked the dome. With Robert Silman Associates, WRD developed a replacement rafter system (epoxy-coated carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic bonded to laminated veneer lumber) that preserved the appearance while greatly increasing strength.
CanadaDecommissioned for over two years after an accident (forcing a 17-minute detour), the Dillman Bridge went out for design-build tender in 2019. On a site in one of the world's highest corrosion zones, WRD designed a 35 m × 7.6 m crossing with a CL-625 load rating, TL-4 crash rail, and Alaskan Yellow Cedar handrail: driven timber piles and a glulam back wall below, glulam deck panels on eight girders above. High-strength fiber reinforcement keeps this lightweight option both cheaper and longer-lived, with all hardware hot-dipped galvanized.
USAThe NEST, a 2018 natural science and event center at Bradenton's Robinson Preserve, ran into trouble by 2022 from its original connectors and preservative treatments. WRD's inspection and wood-lab teams produced the lab results and assessment reports that guided the best repair plan on cost, timeline, and quality. On our recommendation the client engaged partner Timber Restoration Services, who fitted species-matched glulam, removing only the damaged joist ends and using concealed mortise-and-tenon connections.
USAWRD structurally inspected the Tillamook Air Museum, a former blimp hangar built almost entirely of wood and one of the world's largest clear-span timber structures. Non-destructive tests, including stress-wave timing, gauged the main timber elements and guided a preservation plan.
CanadaDr. Dan Tingley was a senior design engineer for the Belldome, a 12-storey structure at the Port of Belledune and New Brunswick's largest dome. Built 1986–88, it stores coal for a power plant, an application where sulphur dioxide exposure rules out steel, making timber the durable choice.
GlobalDr. Tingley of WRD provided design-modeling expertise and introduced high-strength fiber reinforcement on the Austria Center Vienna. It unlocked lightweight, ambitious geometry, integrating seamlessly into the center's overhang and entrance while pushing the boundaries of the design.
CanadaThe Providence Road bridge is a five-span timber overpass crossing a Canadian Pacific rail line near Oshawa, Ontario. WRD inspected it in June 2013 and recommended a repair strategy; that October, Timber Restoration Services restored the substructure in place and fully replaced the superstructure with glulam girders, a transverse glulam deck, and a crash-tested guard rail, achieving a CL-625-ONT load rating.
GlobalThe Blaha showroom was the first building in Austria to use Dr. Tingley's fiber-reinforcement technology, with WRD as consulting engineers. Across 1,700 m² it used 73 m³ of glulam, 56 m³ curved. Ten main girders measured 20 cm × 100 cm × 26 m with two layers of aramid-fiber reinforcement. Beam-size optimization cut transport to 11 truckloads, and the structure was erected in 15 days.
AustraliaThe two-lane, seven-span South Arm Bridge (1958–59) is a Byron Shire icon. For an environmentally invested community, restoration was the natural choice: using inspection-team data, WRD designed an upgrade from 10 to 44 tonnes, recycling timbers wherever possible, restoring the existing piles and installing a new superstructure.
USAWRD assessed a 1902 Starkville, MS cotton mill for conversion into a mixed-use building, evaluating load-bearing capacity, durability, and the renovations needed to meet modern safety standards. The resulting refurbishment plan for Mississippi State University and the City of Starkville repurposes the mill into retail, commercial, and event space while preserving its historic character.