Special Feature
Forté in Melbourne, Australia.
Timber high-rise: not an inferno
Contrary to popular belief, timber performs much better
in a fire compared with concrete and steel.
(Contributed by Malaysian Timber Council)
THOUGH WOOD HAS been used for
light timber framing in low-rise buildings
for over a century, the use of wood in
construction has yet to reach its true
potential. Most builders tend to opt for steel
or concrete framing, especially for high-rise
buildings, due to the myths surrounding the
integrity and performance of timber during
a fire. Wood is often misconstrued as being
structurally less sound than concrete or steel
as well as more prone to fires.
The advancement of fire-proofing
technology and the emergence of modern
engineered timber composites in the past
decade such as laminated veneer lumber
(LVL), laminated strand lumber (LSL),
The charred beam from the
mall in Salem, Oregon.
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glued laminated timber (glulam) and cross
laminated timber (CLT), have opened the
door for wood to be used as the primary
building material in larger and taller
buildings.
In many European countries, prefabricated timber is widely used in the
construction of high-rise buildings. It has
been proven that the technical strength of
engineered timber such as CLT is similar to
that of pre-cast concrete.
Pioneering the way forward for highrise timber buildings is the 10-storey
Forté in Melbourne, Australia. Considered
the world’s tallest contemporary timber
building, Forté used predominantly CLT in
its construction and successfully reduced its
carbon footprint by 1,451 tonnes.
The use of CLT in the UK has grown
tremendously in the past decade across
all building sectors, as more architects,
contractors and developers see the
sustainable and practical benefits that it
offers.