Introduction to cross laminated timber and development of design procedures for Australia and New Zealand

Cross-laminated timber (CLT) is an engineered wood product which is gaining popularity in Europe and North America as a sustainable alternative to concrete and steel construction in commercial and multi-residential buildings. CLT is a panel type product made up of 3 or more layers of timber boards each layer running in orthogonal directions and can be used as wall or floor panels. Investment in sustainable softwood plantations over the past few decades has meant that there is now an abundant supply of renewable timber resources ready to be utilized, to produce light weight buildings with low carbon footprints, smaller foundations and transport requirements and increased speed and ease of construction. There is an increasing interest within the construction industry in Australia to start producing CLT panels. Research at the University of Technology Sydney has shown that CLT panels manufactured within Australia from Australian grown timber can compete with international products. CLT floor panels have been found to have significant strength to weight benefits, the potential to be used as twoway spans, higher than predicted char ratios and can comply with Building Code of Australia (BCA) requirements for acoustic design. This paper presents an overview of research and work completed to date, and a discussion of issues that have been identified and addressed to establish design procedures for CLT to meet Australian building standards and code requirements.