Structural building element

A timber I-beam for use as a roof truss or floor support, the timber I-beam comprising a top chord and a bottom chord forming spaced flanges of an I-beam extending along a longitudinal axis, said flanges spaced from each other and supported by a series of at least two timber blocks lying in a single plane and each separated from the next by an interstitial gap adapted to receive building services, the I-beam forming a uniplanar, intermittent web;

• wherein:
• the blocks are oriented with their wood grains aligned transverse to the longitudinal axis;
• an inner face of the top chord and an inner face of the bottom chord abuts respective end faces of the at least two timber blocks, whereby the inner faces are substantially flat and have no groove features to engage with the end faces of the blocks;
• the lengths of the blocks, in the direction parallel to the longitudinal axis of the plate are at least 50 mm and at most 240 mm;
• the gaps between the blocks along the length of the I-beam is between 90 mm-500 mm;
• and
• the thickness of the blocks is between 19 mm and 90 mm.