Adelaide apartment tower, Verde, will be only the second Cross Laminated Timber multi-level tower to be built in Australia.
Adelaide's city fringe suburb, Kent Town, will soon be home to South Australia’s first timber multi-storey apartment building.
The project, Verde, has commenced construction this week, as the huge engineered timber structure is put into place.
Verde will be only the second Cross Laminated Timber multi-level apartment building to be constructed in Australia.
CLT is made of a number of layers of softwood, oriented at 90 degree angles to each other, which are then glued together under pressure to form large pieces. The material is prefabricated in a factory before being assembled on-site.
The CLT used for Verde weighs more than 620 tonnes, and will be manufactured in Austria. The CLT will be used for all load bearing walls, floors and ceilings of the residential apartments.
Verde is a joint venture between family-owned developer, FA Mamac, and builders Morgan and Hansen.
CLT has been chosen for Verde for the lifestyle benefits as well as the construction benefits, said Morgan and Hansen managing director, Andrew Morgan.
"As well as being extremely strong and solid, because timber is natural it helps to create a gentler and cosier living environment," said Morgan.
“It also has significant environmental benefits and significantly lowers heating and cooling costs," he said.
Manufactured using European technology, CLT is lightweight (25% of the weight of concrete) and exceptionally strong. Use of CLT shortens construction time and enables quieter construction, which reduces the impact of construction on local communities, according to a statement about the Verde project.
CLT has been used around the world mainly for low and mid-rise buildings. The tallest CLT building in the world is in Bergen, Norway, a 14-storey apartment building called Treet, which translates as 'The Tree'. But a 24-storey building is under construction in Vienna, and an 80-storey building, called The Toothpick, is planned for London.
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