Tall Timber Brisbane Creates World’s Tallest Wooden Building

As the skyscraper known as ‘25 King’ approaches completion high above Brisbane, it’s not concrete or steel holding it together, but cellulose and glue. The new structure is attractive and boasts impressive sustainability credentials, but you do wonder… will it stand up under stress? Perhaps the most effective answer to that point is that the building’s anchor tenant is engineering company Aurecon. Taking more than 40 percent of the building’s available space, 600 people will move in to their new desks at the end of 2018. The 10-storey tower sits in a revitalised RNA Showground precinct at Bowen Hills, just minutes from the heart of Brisbane. The building will be the tallest timber structure in Australia and the largest in the world based on floor space. It uses CLT (cross-laminated timber) for floors, lift shafts and emergency stairs, while glulam (glue laminated beams) makes up the structural beams and columns. CLT is a kind of super plywood, where kiln-dried boards are placed at a 90 degree angle and bonded with a non-toxic glue. The resulting panels are light but very strong. Aurecon maintains that the new building offers real benefit to the health and wellbeing of its people, and it is this is that made developer LendLease’s approach so attractive. The multinational building company and owner is no stranger to timber construction and is committed to using wood in all of its development precincts. Rainwater harvesting and re-use, enhanced thermal comfort for office workers, energy efficiency, and external shading are all part of 25 King’s contribution to sustainability. At the building site, there’s plenty of upside too. While concrete generates significant greenhouse gas emissions, engineered wood sequesters carbon. Timber’s thermal performance makes the building cheaper to cool and heat and construction is simpler.  There’s less noise on site and building is faster and cheaper because fewer workers are needed. Timber structural components are also 20 percent lighter than concrete. The new building’s innovative approach is a strong fit with Aurecon values, which include ’creativity’ and ‘bravery’. Queensland Regional Director Neil Barr believes that a culture of innovation requires some risk. Of the new building, he says “We want you to feel like this is an environment where you want to spend some time”. Once the building reached the end of its natural life, much of it will be able to be recycled – hopefully not in the near future.