The next generation of heavy timber building systems is set to change the way many Australian buildings are designed and constructed.
Overseas and in Australia, the potential advantages of heavy timber construction are creating significant interest among architects, engineers and building developers.
International experts, including Eurban's Liam Dewar, Austria's Hermann Kaufmann and others have inspired Australian building design and construction professionals with case studies of multistorey residential and commercial projects.
Heavy timber construction systems include:
- Cross-laminated timber (CLT)
- Expan: post-stressed frames and box beams
- Glulam and LVL beams, planks and floor systems.
The new WoodSolutions CLT Handbook discusses one of these products; CLT.
CLT - 20 years in development
CLT was first developed in the early 1990s in Switzerland. In 1996 an Austrian joint industry-academia research project defined the cross-laminated timber as we know it.
In the early 2000s the use of CLT in construction increased, owing partially to the green building movement and also to production efficiencies and regulatory changes.
Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, and the United Kingdom are leading the use of CLT, typically in multi-residential apartments and educational buildings. Production is centred in Austria and Germany.
CLT is also making inroads in North America and production plants have been established in Canada and New Zealand. There are proposals for CLT production plants in Sweden and Australia.
The advantages of CLT
To developers, designers and builders CLT offers a range of benefits, including:
- Reduced construction programme durations
- Off-site manufacturing
- Lighter weight structures
- Versatility
- Waste minimisation
- Safer working environments on-site
- Less demand for skilled workers on site
- Reduced installation time for follow-on trades i.e. mechanical and electrical
- Long-term storage of the carbon absorbed by the sustainably grown trees
- Production of CLT results in far less greenhouse gas emissions than many non-wood materials
Discover more about CLT
Download the free WoodSolutions CLT Handbook
Read more about CLT on this site