This document applies to the design of bamboo structures whose primary load bearing structure is made of round bamboo or shear panel systems in which the framing members are made from round bamboo.

Except as indicated in Clause 12, this document applies to one- and two-storey residential, small commercial or institutional and light industrial buildings not exceeding 7 m in height.

This document is concerned only with requirements for mechanical resistance, serviceability and durability of bamboo structures.

This document permits an allowable load-bearing capacity design (ACD) and/or allowable stress design (ASD) approach for the design of bamboo structures. Allowable load-bearing capacity and allowable stress approaches may be used in combination in the same structure.

This document additionally recognises design approaches based on partial safety factor design (PSFD) and/or load and resistance factor design (LRFD) methods (5.11.1), previous established experience (5.11.2), or documented ‘design by testing’ approaches (5.11.3).

Other requirements, such as those concerning thermal or sound insulation, are not considered. Bamboo structures may require consideration of additional requirements beyond the scope of this document. Execution is covered to the extent that it impacts the quality of construction materials and products required to comply with the design requirements contained herein.

This document provides a number of modification factors, designated C_i. These are empirically derived factors, based on best available engineering judgement, that are believed to be universally applicable to bamboo materials that are appropriate for building construction. Parameters affecting bamboo material performance are many and are addressed explicitly through the use of experimentally determined characteristic values of strength and stiffness. Annex A provides a summary of the bases upon which the provisions of this document were developed.

This document does not apply to

—    structures made of engineered bamboo products such as glue-laminated bamboo, cross-laminated bamboo, oriented strand, or densified bamboo materials,

—    bamboo-reinforced materials where bamboo is not the primary load-bearing constituent. This includes bamboo-reinforced concrete, masonry and soil, or,

—    scaffold structures constructed with bamboo.