International House Sydney shows why timber s time has come

International House Sydney shows why timber’s time has comeLendlease’s International House Sydney at Barangaroo South is set to become the world’s largest timber office – and it’s driving the industry to look at the world’s oldest building material anew.International House Sydney – which will be the largest timber office globally by gross floor area – is the third building Lendlease has constructed with cross-laminated timber (CLT), and stands alongside Forté apartments and Library at The Dock in Melbourne’s Docklands. According to Lendlease’s managing director of Barangaroo South, Andrew Wilson, the “source of materials is important. To use at scale, timber is the only renewable resource”.CLT has a lower carbon footprint than other building materials, produces almost zero waste during manufacture, and timbers are sourced from sustainably managed forests.Economic modelling undertaken by Forest and Wood Products Australia has found timber buildings can shorten construction times by around 15 per cent.The recently topped out International House Sydney features a colonnade of hardwood columns which front Exchange Square, the entry point for the Barangaroo precinct. Each of the building’s six storeys are made from CLT, as are cores such as lifts. The columns and beams are made from another engineered wood called Glulam, or glued-laminated timber.Wilson says the building will be “a symbol of innovation and sustainability greeting some 33,000 daily visitors as they emerge from Wynyard Walk,” while architect Alec Tzannes says the building’s design renews “architecture’s role to serve the greater social purpose of lowering carbon emissions”.According to the Green Building Council of Australia’s head of market transformation, Jorge Chapa, International House Sydney has influenced proposed updates to Green Star, which are currently open for consultation.Chapa says recognising engineered timber within the Materials category will “reduce the need for project teams to undertake a lifecycle assessment to demonstrate CLT as a viable product to reduce a building’s impact”.He says the GBCA is looking to “incentivise a new industry for engineered timber”, with one Green Star point available when the material is sourced or manufactured in Australia or New Zealand. “Timber is a renewable resource, which combined with local sourcing, can contribute to job creation and skills development,” Chapa says.International House Sydney is due for completion in 2017.