PERSONALITY PROFILE
A focus on mass timber
International House by Lendlease at the Barangaroo Waterfront in Sydney is the MTFG ‘ mascot ’ and the catalyst for the formation of the group .
By Leon Louw
David Elliott founded the Mass Timber Focus Group with the aim of informing and educating South Africans about the benefits of mass timber as a viable and sustainable building material . This was done in partnership with Franco Piva , an Italian wood engineer , and Chris Greensmith , who was the first local engineer to join the growing team . literally everything else was made from massive timber . This was the first time that I had seen a building framed with timber , which I later learned was termed ‘ mass timber ’. When I returned to South Africa , I realised that very few people in South Africa knew what I was talking about .
David , how and why did you establish the Mass Timber Focus Group ? When visiting the Norsk Treteknisk Institutt in Norway in 2009 , I was shown a presentation of timber trusses spanning more than 90m . At the time , I didn ’ t realise that timber could span this enormous distance , as it is difficult to achieve in concrete . Two years ago , I was in Sydney Australia , and saw Daramu House , a 7-storey timber building that is the sister of the well-known International House Sidney ( IHS ), developed by LendLease in the Barangaroo precinct . It intrigued me that all the columns , the floor plates , bracing and
Timber , for South Africans , usually means timber-framing and windows , this is what South Africans are familiar with . Meanwhile , through my research I realised that there was a growing trend around the world towards using timber as a sustainable means of framing mid-rise buildings . Unfortunately , the South African market still needs to become aware of the benefits of using timber as a building material , and the fact that it is renewable and can be used for structural framing . The fact that timber can be used to replace concrete framing and floors is something that South Africans are not yet comfortable with . We made it one of the Mass Timber Focus Group ’ s aims to educate South Africans about mass timber .
What are the main challenges in South Africa when it comes to accepting timber as a building material ? The main hurdle in South Africa is awareness . Architects , for example , need to be totally comfortable with mass timber and what framing
28 APRIL / MAY 2021 // www . timberiq . co . za