Tallest timber engineered building

Located at 25 King’s Street, Brisbane, architect Bates Smart is set to design world’s tallest and largest engineered timber office building in the world. This is a part of a $2.9-billion Brisbane Show grounds redevelopment. The structure is said to be 45 feet or nine storeys in height. The tower would include three ground-level retail tenancies built using cross-laminated timber (CLT) and glulam (glue-laminated timber). The materials are sustainable and light, but the strength is the same as the traditional concrete and steel.

“The company was proud to be delivering the next generation of sustainable workplaces with state-of-the-art technology in Queensland,” Mark Menhinnitt, Lendlease’s managing director, urban regeneration said.

Even though it’s constructed with wood, the structure has a far lower carbon footprint than other building materials, the production process produces zero waste, and timbers are sourced from certified sustainably managed forests. Apart from this, there would be us of controlled lighting, heating and cooling from a single source with glass facades minimising daylight consumption of electricity while western and eastern facades will reduce energy consumption. An added benefit of using engineered timber in the project is less noise pollution and that the structure can be erected in much lesser time.

It is due for completion in 2018.