Perth to Get World’s Tallest Timber Tower
Melbourne developer James Dibble has submitted plans for the world’s tallest hybrid timber building in South Perth. Standing at 183-metres, the $350 million apartment block will be titled C6, after the periodic table’s symbol for carbon, and will be located at 6 Charles Street close to the Perth Zoo. It will include about 7400 cubic metres of timber in its construction, making up almost half of its total structure at 42 per cent, plus steel, concrete and other materials. Grange Development teamed up with architectural firm Elenberg Fraser, as well as engineers Viztek Structural Engineers and Norman Disney Young, to develop the concept. If it is approved, the building will be Australia’s second carbon-negative building after the Atlassian tower and stand three metres taller. It will achieve this through an embedded power network with wind and solar power, and a biophilic design featuring 3500 square metres of floral, edible and native gardens. The Grange Development apartments will include 245 one, two, three and four bedroom apartments over 48 levels, an open-air public piazza and an entertainment precinct. Construction will begin at the end of 2023 with a two year time frame. The tallest standing building in the world is currently Mjøstårnet in Norway, with 18 floors and 85.4 metres. The tallest hybrid timber building currently under construction is Ascent Milwaukee in Wisconsin, USA, which will be 87 metres tall once completed. As you can see, C6 will cast a shadow over its contemporaries. Buildings made from engineered timber have a significantly lower carbon footprint than other structures, both during construction and operation. Construction of the building’s core will sequester over 10.5 million kilograms of carbon dioxide, compared to a traditional concrete structure of similar scale. “The built environment is one of the three major drivers of catastrophic climate change, alongside transport and agriculture,” said James Dibble, founder and director of Grange Development. Robert Svars, the general manager at Vistek Structural Engineers (which was responsible for the timber part of the engineering), said that the building would be a beacon for others to follow. “No one is really making inroads in construction at the large and dramatic pace that needs to happen,” he said. “Timber as a building material has been around for centuries, but only recently has mass timber construction and fabrication methods made it a viable option en masse,” Dibble said. Principal architect Reade Dixon said that the hybrid timber design was a challenge. “It is new ground for engineering at this scale, which is why this has never been done before. It’s about managing the unknown unknowns and risk,” Another challenge they are working on is the material sourcing to supply them with the mass of timber needed at such a large scale. They are looking at suppliers in Western Australia and Victoria. They are even conducting a transport carbon assessment to decide whether it might be lower carbon to ship from Europe. As for concrete, they are exploring whether it might be possible to use low carbon concrete to reduce embodied carbon in the building. “We are still exploring options to reduce embodied carbon in the building. We are looking at creating a better recipe,” Dixon said.
Tags : Perth World’s Tallest Timber Tower The Grange Development apartments Melbourne developer James Dibble architectural firm Elenberg Fraser Robert Svars the general manager at Vistek Structural Engineers