The expression ''timber top'' is taking on a new meaning in the building industry as the world's tallest wooden apartment tower nears completion. The company "Lend Lease" two weeks ago hoisted the final panel of cross-laminate timber (CLT) in place on the 10th story of its innovative new "Forte" building in Docklands. Victoria Harbour. About his plans "Lend Lease" announced 4 months ago and now the building is already ready. The US$ 11 million project makes use of the lightweight CLT building material, commonly used in Europe, which has a structural strength similar to concrete and steel. The company maintains it will have cut ordinary construction times by 30 percent once the internal fit out of the 32-meter tall, 10-storey apartment is finished in November. Being the first of its kind in Australia, and the highest in the world when it opens its doors "Forte" will be a test case for residential property buyers unfamiliar with wooden building materials. Lend Lease made a deliberate decision not to sell apartments in the building until it was complete, said head of operations development Daryl Patterson. It wanted to avoid misconceptions that "Forte" was like a timber-frame house. ''It's very important for people to be able to come and touch and feel the product and understand that it's as solid as any other apartment,'' he said. The company also treated "Forte" like a pilot project, learning while building. It discovered just how effective modular components were in CLT construction. Forte's modular bathrooms were manufactured in Brisbane and trucked to the site. ''The toilets are in. The taps are in. The shower screens are in. The mirrors are up on the wall,'' Mr Patterson said. Once complete, Forte will house 23 boutique residential apartments and 4 townhouses with prices ranging from US$ 430 - US$ 795 thousand. Currently one of the highest modern wooden buildings is in London. Called the Stadthaus, Murray Grove, it's a nine-story residential building that stands at just less than 30 meters (98 feet). Even the lift shafts and stairwells are made from wood. Architect Michael Green, one of three principals at McFarlane Green Biggar Architecture + Design (MGB), also has plans for a 30-story wooden skyscraper in Vancouver.

The company Lend Lease last unveiled plans to build the first high rise apartment building in Australia and the tallest in the world using Cross Laminated Timber (CLT), which it says heralds a new era for the construction industry, reported the resource Architecture Design. The new wooden tower called Forte, will be constructed in Victoria Harbour, Melbourne and it will rise over 10 stories, offering 23 boutique residential apartments and 4 townhouses. Designed and built by Lend Lease, the building, due for completion in October 2012, will reflect the contemporary inner-city lifestyle of Victoria Harbour while combining environmental initiatives such as better energy efficiency in terms of heating and cooling. Building with CLT is seen as a more efficient and environmentally-friendly construction process, which has proven successful in Europe for more than a decade, but has not been undertaken in Australia before. By using CLT, Lend Lease claims, the project, Forte, will reduce CO2 equivalent emissions by more than 1,400 tonnes when compared to concrete and steel - the equivalent of removing 345 cars from our roads. CLT is an engineered mass timber product and very different to a traditional wood frame. Mass timber - dense solid panels of wood engineered for strength through laminations of different layers - provides significant benefits and has the equivalent structural integrity to concrete. CLT on a weight to strength basis meets, and in some cases exceed, the performance of reinforced concrete, resulting in a very stable and durable structural outcome. Designed and produced in a factory environment means it will also be built 30 percent faster than its material counterparts, while being cleaner and more efficient. Currently one of the highest modern wooden buildings is in London. Called the Stadthaus, Murray Grove, it's a nine-story residential building that stands at just less than 30 meters (98 feet). Even the lift shafts and stairwells are made from wood. Architect Michael Green, one of three principals at McFarlane Green Biggar Architecture + Design (MGB), also has plans for a 30-story wooden skyscraper in Vancouver.

Instead of concrete jungles could our cities become urban forests of wooden skyscrapers? Swapping cement and steel for timber is the vision of a number of environmentally-minded architects who are planning high-rise buildings across the world. As reported CNN, Architect Michael Green, one of three principals at McFarlane Green Biggar Architecture + Design (mgb), has plans for a 30-story wooden skyscraper in Vancouver, while plans are afoot in Norway and Austria for 17 and 20-story building that use wood as the main building material, eschewing steel and concrete. The modern wood materials have been around for 20 years, but until recently they have been quite niche or used only in low-rise buildings. What has changed is the way in which architects and builders are thinking about using wood. The real change came when people started about climate change. Steel and concrete are great but not environmentally friendly. Cutting down trees to make buildings doesn't immediately sound eco-friendly either, but if sourced from sustainably managed forests (like those in Europe and North America), it can be more environmentally sensitive. Wood buildings lock in carbon dioxide for the life cycle of a structure, while the manufacture of steel and concrete produces large amounts of CO2 -- the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimate that for every 10 kilos of cement created, six to nine kilos of CO2 are produced. Green's "Tallwood" structure is designed with large panels of laminated strand lumber -- a composite made of strands of wood glued together. Other mass timber products use layers of wood fused together at right angles that making them immensely strong and able to be used as lode bearing infrastructure, walls and floors. Currently one of the highest modern wooden buildings is in London. Called the Stadthaus, Murray Grove, it's a nine-story residential building that stands at just under 30 meters (98 feet). Even the lift shafts and stairwells are made from wood. According to Craig Liddell, the commercial director of KLH UK, the company that developed the cross-laminated timber for the building, the 15 stories is possible before having to use other materials like steel. The cross-laminated timber used on the Stadthaus is classified as air-tight, making it one of London's most energy efficient buildings. As a pre-fabricated structure it also took less time to construct and was cheaper than a conventional steel and concrete building.