High-Rise Wood Construction

I grow increasingly fascinated by this topic as new projects are discovered. This is in British Columbia where a Request For Proposal for a 10 storey high-rise wood building was responded to by seven teams. Interestingly, one of the selected teams is CREE from Austria, whose LCT (Life Cycle Tower) system is used the highest wood high-rise in that country. They have recently opened an office in San Francsco. Another firm selected is the Canadian division of the American contractor PCL.

The article in a British Columbia website is here
A copy of the RFP can be found here.

As sustainability takes a more important front seat in the design and construction industry...it is already well-integrated in practice at many firms...and as wood technologies quickly advance, we will see Building and Fire Departments loosen requirements that currently limit wood construction and permit greater performance-based design.

And, architects and engineers and contractors need to become comfortable with the technology. The learning curve is not that steep. I wonder how many manufacturers can design and build the structural wood panels. With CREE staking a presence in America, we may soon see something happen.