Good structural engineers……

Sorry, this is probably in no way useful, but my understanding of glulam beams is that timber produced in Ireland is not of a grade high enough to be suitable for use in such beams, so glulam timber used on the pretense of being sustainabe, in an Irish context at least, is bullshit, as the timber has to be imported. (Although I say this with no authority other than a conversation with someone who was apparently in the know, so I am open to being corrected) If, however the timber is being used purely for its appearance, which is quiet acceptable, then perhaps, you could just clad the steel. Although in saying that, your engineer does sound like a muppet.

you can buy a timber framing manual that we used at school and you could almost forget about the structural engineer…not;) Timber framing is just so damn standard here and you can buy the stuff anywhere and everywhere. you just have to compare different soil and timber types and construction type poles apart.
It really comes down your design but it is normal for steel to enter the design but this is normally only for large openings overhangs and keeping a minimum deep floor construction and stiffening.

if your after truss information check out pryda… a way way away
I also remember a very smart white cube box house on grand designs with a sto render that used trusses in the walls that would normally go in the ceiling but channel 4 website is down maybe hunt out the engineer from the UK got rice?:p