Structural saftety thanks to quality: plan robustness, build with checks, monitor permanently

In Europe and elsewhere in the world, timber is being used for bigger and more ambitious structures. The engineer has to bear greater responsibilities in the design, supervision of construction and - lately increasingly – on the monitoring of the performance of the structure in use. The paper discusses new design requirements such as robustness and some important aspects of the supervision of the construction. Finally, the authors wish to share the experience the Bern University of Applied Sciences has made in the use of equipment to monitor sensitive structures in service.