Dalston Lane by Waugh Thistleton Architects (London), currently the largest CLT building in the world.
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Without fanfare, and unbeknown to many outside the architecture and design professions, London has become the world leader in constructing buildings out of wood.
In fact, for the past year, a residential block in Dalston has been home to the world’s largest building made of cross-laminated timber (CLT).
Timber construction uses layers of wooden planks, each one at right angles to its neighbours, bond them with glue and press them. This makes a sort of ultra-plywood, called cross-laminated timber. It’s strong, rigid and durable, insulates both heat and sound, and can be prefabricated in factories to high levels of quality and precision.
Engineered timber is ‘the new concrete’.
Andrew Waugh of Waugh Thistleton, the world leaders in engineered timber construction, told City News the material has many benefits.
The buildings constructed in timber can be built very quickly, with a 9 story building in London recently completed with a team of four carpenters in 27 working days. Engineered timber also makes for quieter, calmer, cleaner building sites, without the noise and dust of hammer drills and grinders. It requires a fifth of the deliveries by truck that concrete does. It creates minimal waste (which, as a high percentage of the rubbish that goes to landfill comes from construction, is no small matter).
Whereas a tonne of cement emits nearly a tonne of carbon in its making, a tonne of timber will, through the trees from which it is made, remove up to two tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere.
City News visited two buildings in London, constructed out of timber and saw first hand the limited disruption caused at the building site, as well as the airy and serene atmosphere that had been created inside the completed building.
Not Fire Proof
However not everyone believes CLT is the answer to all the urban development problems faced by modern cities.
The Mineral Products Association, the trade body representing cement and concerete manufacturers pointed out to us that CLT does not have the fire retardant properties that t was first thought to have. They believe that new building regulations may place restrictions on its use in residential buildings.
They are also keen to point out concrete’s green credentials, telling City News,
“The concrete industry is also a net user of waste – we use 100 times more waste from other industries than we produce”
But any such concerns from rival industries is not having any impact on the exponential growth in CLT use in the UK.
With new timber buildings springing up all over London and the UK, it appears that there is momentum behind this new industry.
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Without fanfare, and unbeknown to many outside the architecture and design professions, London has become the world leader in constructing buildings out of wood.
In fact, for the past year, a residential block in Dalston has been home to the world’s largest building made of cross-laminated timber (CLT).
Timber construction uses layers of wooden planks, each one at right angles to its neighbours, bond them with glue and press them. This makes a sort of ultra-plywood, called cross-laminated timber. It’s strong, rigid and durable, insulates both heat and sound, and can be prefabricated in factories to high levels of quality and precision.
Engineered timber is ‘the new concrete’.
Andrew Waugh of Waugh Thistleton, the world leaders in engineered timber construction, told City News the material has many benefits.
The buildings constructed in timber can be built very quickly, with a 9 story building in London recently completed with a team of four carpenters in 27 working days. Engineered timber also makes for quieter, calmer, cleaner building sites, without the noise and dust of hammer drills and grinders. It requires a fifth of the deliveries by truck that concrete does. It creates minimal waste (which, as a high percentage of the rubbish that goes to landfill comes from construction, is no small matter).
Whereas a tonne of cement emits nearly a tonne of carbon in its making, a tonne of timber will, through the trees from which it is made, remove up to two tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere.
City News visited two buildings in London, constructed out of timber and saw first hand the limited disruption caused at the building site, as well as the airy and serene atmosphere that had been created inside the completed building.
Not Fire Proof
However not everyone believes CLT is the answer to all the urban development problems faced by modern cities.
The Mineral Products Association, the trade body representing cement and concerete manufacturers pointed out to us that CLT does not have the fire retardant properties that t was first thought to have. They believe that new building regulations may place restrictions on its use in residential buildings.
They are also keen to point out concrete’s green credentials, telling City News,
“The concrete industry is also a net user of waste – we use 100 times more waste from other industries than we produce”
But any such concerns from rival industries is not having any impact on the exponential growth in CLT use in the UK.
With new timber buildings springing up all over London and the UK, it appears that there is momentum behind this new industry.
