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    Donaldson Timber’s new technical head: design governance insights for engineers

    May 12, 2026|

    Reviewed by Joe Ashwell

    Donaldson Timber’s new technical head: design governance insights for engineers

    First reported on The Construction Index

    30 Second Briefing

    Offsite timber frame manufacturer Donaldson Timber Systems has created a new UK-wide head of technical role and appointed long-serving engineer Grant Sanderson, who joined the firm in 2015 and became engineering manager in 2020. Sanderson, a Napier University civil engineering graduate with nearly 20 years’ experience including offshore oil and gas jacket and topside fabrication support, will lead technical coordination, engineering, design development and project governance from tender through delivery. The move consolidates technical oversight across Donaldson’s network of manufacturing and technical centres, signalling tighter control of timber frame design quality and compliance.

    Technical Brief

    • Donaldson Timber Systems brings over 50 years’ offsite timber frame design and manufacturing experience to UK projects.
    • The firm operates through a distributed network of manufacturing and technical centres, requiring robust cross-site design governance.
    • Sanderson’s early consultancy work in Edinburgh focused specifically on timber frame structural engineering solutions.
    • His three years in offshore oil and gas involved engineering support for jacket and topside fabrication, plus wind farm structures.
    • Knowledge-sharing and internal training have been a stated part of his role, supporting consistent design assumptions across engineering teams.

    Our Take

    Donaldson Timber Systems’ recent launch of the 16‑type Affordable Housing Range based on its Sigma II closed panel system suggests the new technical head role will be pivotal in standardising and scaling BOPAS+/BBA/STA-accredited designs across UK social and volume housing schemes.

    With over 50 years of offsite timber frame expertise in the UK, Donaldson Timber is positioned in our infrastructure coverage as one of the more mature players in industrialised housing, which likely gives the technical head significant leverage to influence specification norms with clients such as Homes England and major RSLs.

    The promotion pathway from structural engineer in 2015 to engineering manager in 2020 and now technical head signals that Donaldson Timber Systems is consolidating design authority in-house, which typically helps offsite manufacturers tighten tolerances, reduce rework on site and support MMC compliance on large projects.

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    Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.

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