Jim Coulson, a wood expert drawing on more than 40 years of experience, touches on the sorts of work that such experts undertake and why their insights are often crucial to the outcome of a dispute.
What initially drew you to specialise in the field of wood science and timber technology?
I worked in the sector for a number of years, running the regional advisory services for the then Timber Research and Development Association. When the Association was privatised at the beginning of the 1990s, it seemed appropriate to start my own practice.
How much of the work that you do is related to providing services to the legal profession and Trading Standards Offices?
About 50% of the workload of TFT Woodexperts Limited is related to legal and Trading Standards work – with the majority of that being expert witness reports.
As an expert witness, what kinds of disputes are you typically called to advise on?
There is no “typical” wood-based expert witness job! Each one is different, but broadly, they can be split into several categories: “Who designed or built this timber building incorrectly?”; “Who created the wrong specification or ordered the wrong timber or wood-based materials?”; “Why has this product or timber detail not performed as specified?” and even “Why have these wood-based materials gone rotten and whose fault is it?”
There is no “typical” wood-based expert witness job!
But there are many, many more oddities – such as reporting on damage to a consignment of logs stranded on a ship in the Indian Ocean; investigating fake pallets as used in drug smuggling on behalf of the police; or checking and reporting on the many (wrong) species of timber as used in a holiday development in the Maldives, which seriously shortened the life-expectancy of the project (and subsequently gained a $50 million rebate from the developers, for our clients).
What services do you provide in these cases?
We undertake site investigations, analyses (wood species, treatment chemicals, etc) and full document reviews. We also give comprehensive technical explanations and prepare CPR-Part 35 reports (and occasionally criminal ones, too).
What aspects of your knowledge do you help a court to understand?
We explain all relevant standards and good Industry practices in clear, unambiguous layman’s terms, with full reasoning given for all the conclusions as given at the end of the report – sometimes including remedial recommendations if specifically requested to do so.
[ymal]
Why is it essential to hear from a wood expert in these cases?
Timber and wood-based products – and their associated treatments and processes – are very little understood in the commercial world. It is a fact that those very people who use wood (such as carpenters, joiners, builders, furniture makers, etc) have almost no clue about its technical properties, how best to employ it to good advantage, or how to avoid what are often very costly mistakes. A wood expert can explain how and why things have gone wrong and where any responsibilities or shortcomings may lie.
Jim Coulson, Director
Park House, 16 Emgate, Bedale, North Yorkshire, DL8 1AL
Tel: +44 01677 427273
Jim Coulson is an experienced wood scientist and technical building consultant with over 40 years’ worth of experience in the wood industries. He is also a chartered environmentalist and fellow of both the Faculty of Building and the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining.
TFT Woodexperts Limited is an independent consultancy practice that provides technical and training solutions for the timber and construction industries. The company started life in 1991 as “Technology For Timber” (TFT) before acquiring the domain name of Woodexperts, reflecting its growing focus on expert witness work. Woodexperts’ consultants specialise in timber, design, grading, inspection and training in softwoods, hardwoods and sheet materials, as well as expert witness reports and certification.
