Jack Porteous is a consulting engineer specialising in timber engineering. He is a Chartered Engineer, Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers and Member of the Institution of Structural Engineers. He is a member of the BSI committee B/525/5, which is responsible for the structural use of timber in the UK and for the production of UK input to EN 1995-1-1. He is a member of the editorial advisory panel of the ICE publication, Construction Materials and a visiting scholar and lecturer in timber engineering at Edinburgh Napier University.

Abdy Kermani is the Professor of Timber Engineering and Director of the UK’s Centre for Timber Engineering at Edinburgh Napier University. He is a Chartered Engineer, Fellow of the Institution of Structural Engineers and Fellow of the Institute of Wood Science. He has served on the organising committees and editorial technical advisory boards of international journals and conferences on timber engineering and the innovative use of construction materials. He is the appointed principal consultant to several UK and European structural and timber engineering firms and manufacturing industries.