Planet Ark welcomes Australia's first high rise timber building
Date: 01-Mar-11
Author: Planet Ark
Planet Ark welcomes Australia's first high rise timber building to be built in Melbourne's Swanston Street - the Grocon Building. The $100 million building will be made from soft-wood panels imported from Europe and fitted together in weeks to make 50 apartments over 10 storeys. The building, to be known as Delta, will be carbon neutral and have its own gas-fired electrical generator powered by waste woodchips, a rainwater tank and a grey-water recycling system.
"Many areas of Europe are now encouraging greater use of sustainable wood in the construction of buildings and Planet Ark would like to see this across Australia too" says Managing Director of Planet Ark, Paul Klymenko. "Using sustainably sourced wood for building is a great way of combating climate change as it stores carbon."
Sustainably logged timber is renewable and sequesters more carbon than any other comparable building material, particularly carbon intensive materials such as steel, concrete and plastic. Additionally, timber is a durable material for homes and commercial buildings that can last for many years. It is easier to transport and install than most other materials.
"Sustainably sourced wood is not only a store of carbon - approximately 50 percent of its dry weight - but also has very low embodied energy," says Ric Sinclair, Managing Director of Forest and Wood Products. "Using more wood in our built environment, substituting it for more CO2 intensive materials, is a positive environmental step."
For more information visit:
www.theage.com.au/victoria/wooden-highrise-to-bring-cheers-to-old-brewery-site-20110227-1ba1p.html
