Timbatec

About Timbatec

Timbatec Holzbauingenieure is a specialist timber construction engineering company operating across Switzerland, Austria and Germany. Trading as Timbatec Holzbauingenieure Schweiz AG in German-speaking Switzerland, Timbatec ingénieurs bois SA in the French-speaking cantons and Timbatec Holzbauingenieure ZT GmbH in Austria, the firm has built its practice entirely around one material. As more and more large buildings are constructed from renewable timber, that focus has moved from niche to strategically important.

Core Competencies

Statics and Construction

Structural engineering for timber and timber-hybrid buildings, covering load paths, connection design, deflection, vibration and the detailing that determines whether a mass timber structure is buildable at a sensible cost. Timber behaves very differently from steel and concrete - it is anisotropic, moisture-sensitive and creeps under sustained load - so this expertise is not interchangeable with general structural practice.

Fire Protection

Fire engineering for timber structures is the single biggest obstacle to taller wooden buildings. Timbatec works on charring rates, encapsulation strategies, compartmentation and code compliance, allowing timber schemes to satisfy regulators in markets where combustible structure has historically been restricted.

Building Physics

Acoustics, thermal performance, moisture management and airtightness. Impact sound between timber floors and long-term moisture behaviour within build-ups are recurring technical challenges that must be resolved at design stage rather than on site.

Product Development

The company develops timber construction products and systems, moving beyond project-by-project engineering into repeatable solutions the wider industry can adopt.

Innovation Lab

Timbatec runs a dedicated Innovation Lab, reflecting a research-led approach to timber engineering. Mass timber is a fast-moving field in which connection systems, hybrid assemblies and fire test evidence continue to evolve, and firms that invest in testing tend to shape the codes rather than simply follow them.

Office Network

The practice operates from seven Swiss offices - Thun, Zurich, Bern, Delémont, Lucerne, Lausanne and St. Gallen - plus a Vienna office in Austria and a Hamburg presence in Germany. That footprint covers both the German- and French-speaking regions of Switzerland and gives the firm access to the wider DACH timber market. The Zurich office recently marked twenty years of operation.

Project Types

Timbatec engineers a broad range of timber and hybrid buildings, including residential and multi-storey housing, care and senior living facilities such as the Wier nursing home in Ebnat-Kappel, schools and public buildings, offices and commercial structures, and industrial and agricultural buildings. The Wier project also illustrates a growing theme in Swiss timber construction: all the wood came from surrounding communities, requiring careful coordination of supply as well as design.

Why Timber Engineering Matters

Timber is the only structural material that sequesters carbon, and mass timber construction is central to reducing embodied emissions in buildings. Realising that benefit depends on engineers who can satisfy structural, fire and acoustic requirements at the same time - which is precisely the combination Timbatec offers.

Market Position

Timbatec is among the leading timber engineering consultancies in the DACH region, competing on depth rather than breadth. For architects and developers pursuing mass timber, that specialist knowledge is usually the difference between a scheme that gains approval and one that reverts to concrete.

Why AEC Teams Should Know Timbatec

Any team planning a mass timber or hybrid building will find Timbatec a valuable reference for structural design, timber fire strategy and building physics across the built environment.