The conservation of heritage structures is pivotal not only due to their cultural or historical importance for nations, but also for understanding their construction techniques as a lesson that can be applied to contemporary structures. Timber is considered to be the oldest organic construction material and is more vulnerable to environmental threats than nonorganic materials such as masonry bricks. In order to assess the structural vulnerability of heritage timber structures subjected to different types of risk, knowledge about their structural systems and configurations, the nature and properties of the materials, and the behavior of the structure when subjected to different risks, is essential for analysts. In order to facilitate the procedure, different assessment methods have been divided into the categories in situ and ex situ, which are applicable for vulnerability assessments at the element and full-scale level of a case study. An existing methodology for structural vulnerability assessments and conservation of heritage timber buildings is reviewed and a new methodology is proposed.

The construction industry is a big contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, which has a negative environmental impact. Several studies have highlighted the possibility of using timber to reduce the environmental impact of construction. Most of these studies have focused on residential buildings, but little attention has been devoted to industrial buildings. In this paper, an attempt is made to compare the environmental impact of using timber, steel, and reinforced concrete in industrial buildings using life cycle assessment. The system boundary was set to cradle-to-gate with transportation to construction site due to the limitation of data, and only the quantities of the main structural system are considered. Portal frames with variable spans were designed using the three materials to meet similar load carrying capacity. Reinforced concrete was used in the foundation of all frames. The results of the comparative study show that timber has, by a good margin, better environmental impact than reinforced concrete and steel, due to the carbon stored in the wood. The results also show that reinforced concrete and steel alternatives have similar environmental impacts. The findings of this study agree with the findings of other studies on residential buildings.