Timber Towers
A New Generation of Timber Framed Buildings
Background Briefing by William C. Basford
Cell: 207-314-8194, wbasford@gwi.net
Rev. 3.0 Nov. 30, 2016
Timber framing should be considered for the structural framing for all new mid-rise buildings planned for downtown Waterville, and the rest of Maine, as a way to improve the regional economy by using locally available materials, rather than steel beams that must be imported from far away. Even reinforced concrete, the third framing option, requires many tons of steel reinforcing bars (rebar) that must be imported from away.
Based on recent changes to the International Building Code, prompted by extensive fire safety testing by the National Research Council of Canada, and the international engineering firm Arup, among others, it is now possible to build timber framed buildings much taller than previously allowed. This trend started about twenty years ago in Austria, and has now spread to North America, with at least eight examples now completed or under construction.
Wooden beams of any needed size and strength are readily available in the form of laminated beams. Using these laminated beams, along with cross laminated timber panels (CLT), a form of super-sized plywood, and new framing methods, new timber framed buildings of at least 7 storeys can be built in the U.S. Buildings up to 18 stories are now nearing completion construction in Canada.
At least two dozen of these new Timber Towers have been built to date, including several large buildings in North America. One of the first of these new “timber towers” in North America was the Wood Innovation Design Center at UBC in Prince George, BC, by Michael Green Architects of Vancouver.
The first “Timber Tower” in North America, on the campus of UBC in Prince George, BC
Michael Green architects provides more info about this project at:
http://mg-architecture.ca/work/wood-innovation-design-center/
A link to a TED talk by architect Michael Green about timber framed buildings: https://www.ted.com/talks/michael_green_why_we_should_build_wooden_skyscrapers
Framing plan for a typical timber framed midrise building.
Condos Origine in Quebec City
A 13 storey timber framed condominium building called Condos Origine is now under construction in Quebec City. The laminated beams and CLT panels are provided by Nordic Structures of Chibougamau, QC, and are made of 90% Black Spruce.
For more details on these products:
http://nordic.ca/en/products/nordic-x-lam-cross-laminated-timber-clt
http://nordic.ca/en/products/nordic-lam-glued-laminated-timber-glulam
Completion and occupancy are scheduled for next March
http://ici.radio-canada.ca/regions/quebec/2015/02/24/006-tour-13-etages-structure-bois-pointe-aux-lievres.shtml
http://yvanblouinarchitecte.com/nouvelles/origine-ecocondos-de-la-pointe-la-plus-haute-tour-en-amerique-du-nord/
http://condosorigine.com/
Construction progress can be viewed at: https://www.devisubox.com/dv/dv.php5?pgl=Project/interface&sRef=1DFN339GR
Architect’s drawing of Condos Origine, now under construction in Quebec City
Treet in Bergen, Norway
As of July 2016 the tallest completed timber framed building was a 14 storey luxury apartment building in Bergen, Norway, completed in the fall of 2015. For this project, factory assembled modular apartments were installed in a timber structural framework.
http://www.timberdesignandtechnology.com/treet-the-tallest-timber-framed-building-in-the-world/
Luxury apartments in Bergen, Norway, completed in the fall of 2015.
Brock Commons at UBC in Vancouver, BC
The next record holder will be 18 floors of student housing now under construction at UBC in Vancouver, after it is completed in the spring of 2017. The laminated beams and CLT panels for this project are made of Douglas Fir. This building is expected to qualify for the LEED Gold rating. http://thespaces.com/2016/02/03/meet-the-new-generation-of-plyscrapers/8/
More details, drawings and construction photos are at the architect's web site:
http://www.actonostry.ca/project/brock-commons-phase-1/
Photo of construction progress to July 21, 2016, at UBC in Vancouver
More info on this project is at:
http://www.archdaily.com/787673/construction-of-the-worlds-tallest-timber-tower-is-underway-in-vancouver
T3 in Minneapolis
Several more timber framed buildings are either planned or under construction in the USA. A seven storey, 210,000 square foot office building called T3, now going up at 323 N Washington Ave in Minneapolis, MN, is significant because it shows that these new timber towers can meet the requirements of U.S building codes. The laminated beams and CLT panels for this project are made of pine, and are described as “nail laminated”. This building was designed by Michael Green Architects of Vancouver.
The architect provides more info at: http://mg-architecture.ca/work/minneapolis-t3/
Completion and occupancy are expected by late fall of this year.
Construction progress at T3 as of July 19, 2016, with all floors enclosed, the windows installed, and exterior cladding applied.
Strandparken in Stockholm, Sweden
Strandparken is four 32 unit timber framed apartment buildings in a suburb of Stockholm, Sweden. The Swedish developer Folkhem plans to build 6000 more apartments in all timber buildings at 22 sites in the Stockholm area. Seventeen projects are described at http://folkhem.se/en/future-houses/ including one project with four 20 storey residential towers.
Arbora in Montreal
The largest timber framed construction project in North America to date is the Arbora project in the Griffintown section of Montreal, near the north end of the Lachine Canal. The first building with 130 apartments will be completed in early 2017, while two more buildings of roughly the same size will be constructed next year on the same block, bringing the total to 434 housing units when completed. This project is designed to achieve LEED platinum.
The first of three planned buildings at Arbora in Montreal
LEED Ratings:
A timber framed building should score well in the LEED environmental rating system.
1. First, the timber framing should count as a renewable material.
2. Second, the embedded energy in timber framing is reported to be about 40% of that in a comparable reinforced concrete structure.
3. Third, the timber framing materials, including the glulam beams and columns, and the CLT panels can probably be sourced much closer to Waterville, ME. Laminated wood beams are available from Nordic Structures in Chibougamau, Quebec.
4. Fourth; all the carbon in the wood framing materials will then be sequestered for the life of the building, and at the end of the building’s useful life, the wood can be either recycled or burned for heating fuel. https://umaine.edu/news/blog/2016/01/29/plywood-on-steroids-could-help-grow-industry/
Three of these four factors should earn LEED points even if the timber framing materials are not yet available in Maine, and must be brought in from outside the state.
This new generation of timber framed buildings offers all developers an opportunity to enhance their environmental credentials by building one or more of these new timber framed buildings in the northeastern states.
Other background info:
Cross Laminated Timber panels have been tested at UMaine:
https://umaine.edu/news/blog/2016/01/29/plywood-on-steroids-could-help-grow-industry/
An Economic Development Opportunity for Maine
Timber framed buildings offer an economic opportunity for Maine, since we have plenty of wood growing in Maine, and timber framing will reduce the need for importing expensive structural steel and/or steel rebar from outside the state. Potential early adopters include colleges and universities, state buildings, and badly needed affordable housing in the more prosperous parts of Maine, including Portland.
Furthermore, there may be a significant export market for timber framing materials, or even prefabricated timber framed buildings. The first market outside of Maine could be the densely populated Mid-Atlantic States from Massachusetts down to Maryland and Virginia. Furthermore, several countries in Western Europe have very high population densities and little or no remaining forest resources, including England, Ireland, the Netherlands, France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Denmark.
The closest European country to Maine is Iceland, and we already have direct container-ship service to Iceland from Portland by Eimskip. Their population is roughly 320,000, with nearly 200,000 living in or near the capital city of Reykjavik. Although Iceland was heavily forested when first discovered and settled in the 9th century AD, it now has little or no remaining forest resources, so most structural building materials must be imported, whether timber, steel or cement for reinforced concrete. Eimskip’s green route from Portland to Iceland continues to Grimsby on the east coast of England, and on to Rotterdam in the Netherlands, the largest container port in Western Europe.
There are already three significant timber tower projects completed in the London Borough of Hackney in England. These projects are known as Dalston Lane, Murray Grove, and The Cube. If these projects are well received, there will likely be many more in the coming years.
The Borough of Hackney has adopted a “Timber First” planning policy, to encourage all new commercial building project to consider timber framing as the “first among equals”, primarily for its environmental benefits.
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Prepared by William C. Basford
Email: wbasford@gwi.net
Cell: 207-314-8194
Rev. 3.0 Nov 30, 2016
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