Analysis

Video: So what exactly is Cross Laminated timber?

Sky’s Health and Fitness Centre is the latest cross-laminated timber structure to open on its west London campus. Read the feature and watch the Trada-supported video.

The radical glulam and cross- laminated timber framed structures at Sky sit at the heart of the firm’s global ambitions to develop a low carbon highly sustainable development that delivers new levels of corporate social responsibility.

As Adrian Campbell, associate director at Arup, points out, it is all part of a longer journey for Sky to change the way that it approaches the construction and management of its building stock.

Read the full feature "Mapping Sky’s sustainable journey in timber" here. The article is the cover feature in the latest issue of Infrastructure Intelligence magazine.

“Sky has pushed at the boundaries of what is possible with timber,” he says, highlighting that the learning from the award winning Believe in Better building has gone into the design of the new Health and Fitness centre which opened last month. And learning from that building is built into the design and delivery of the much larger Sky 2 building which will open next year. 

“Believe in Better sets a precedent in terms of the use of timber as a building material and gave us the confidence to press ahead with the gym,” he adds, emphasising that it is not simply about using timber for timber’s sake, but an exercise of using the most appropriate material possible at all times.

“We have been debating to what degree we can use timber in construction but also what the right application in terms of cost, value and durability is. The decision is driven ultimately by cost of delivery and overall performance of the building,” he says.

Read the full feature "Mapping Sky’s sustainable journey in timber" here. The article is the cover feature in the latest issue of Infrastructure Intelligence magazine.

So what exactly is Cross Laminated Timber?

The use of and construction of Cross Laminated Timber is explained in an exclusive video interview with Andrew Waugh of Waugh Thistleton, produced in association with Trada.

Video by Max Thompson

 

Mapping Sky's sustainable journey in timber - read Infrastructure Intelligence's latest feature on the how the use of timber is driving design decisions at media giant's Sky's new headquarters development in West London

If you would like to contact Antony Oliver about this, or any other story, please email antony.oliver@infrastructure-intelligence.com.