Engineered bamboo is increasingly explored as a material with significant potential for structural applications. The material is comprised of raw bamboo processed into a laminated composite. Commercial methods vary due to the current primary use as an architectural surface material, with processing used to achieve different colours in the material. The present work investigates the effect of two types of processing methods, bleaching and caramelisation, to determine the effect on the mechanical properties. A comparison to other engineered bamboo and timber products is also presented. The results of the study indicate that processing does affect the mechanical properties of engineered bamboo products. Areas in need of further research are also identified for thermally treated bamboo to be used in structural applications. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).