e noted ‘this project will unlock a new era for sustainable development by offering a viable alternative to traditional construction options, which are carbon intensive’ . He expects CLT construction to be used in other applications, including educational, community and commercial buildings.
The advantages of CLT are particularly relevant to the Docklands location and the Victoria Harbour precinct, as its reduced weight generated substantial below-ground savings and the fast build suited the compact site. Forté aims to be Australia’s first five-star GreenStar as-built certified residential building. According to the developers, by using CLT, Forté will reduce carbon emissions by more than 1400 tonnes of CO2, compared with building in concrete and steel. The advantages are likely to continue for residents too: the 23 apartments require 25 per cent less energy to heat and cool than a similar apartment built in reinforced concrete; they note that the building will be carbon neutral for at least 10 years.
Construction of the building took only from February to October 2012, constructed from 760 CLT panels, which were shipped from Austria to Australia in 25 containers (panel length limited to 12 metres due to container size). In the assembly process, around 25 panels per day were put in place. However, only few timber surface is exposed in the final building, reduced to one ‘feature wall’ per unit. An earlier design option proposed the entire building to be wood clad, but ‘it was then decided to reduce the timber aesthetic, to avoid marketing risks’ . The developer decided on ‘a more ordinary façade to have a building not completely out of the ordinary.’ The developer also decided that ‘the building would be fully sprinklered to make it look safe and simplify the approval process, although this measure was not requested by the Fire Department’ . (See Figure 11 a and b).
5. What Architects and Developers Think About CLT Construction
There is still a lack of knowledge within the architectural design community about CLT buildings’ design and the impact of various design features on infill developments’ carbon footprints—as compared to other construction systems. In Australia we need to find ways to increase acceptance and build industry capacity for rapid uptake of CLT construction systems.
A fundamental question is the potential market penetration and architects’ and developers’ acceptance of urban infill using CLT construction. The analysed cases show that not only technological but also social innovation is needed to introduce CLT systems more widely to Australia.
Since the mid-1990s, CLT construction has been introduced in several European countries and also in Canada. In Canada, CLT was used as a demonstration in the iHouse constructed for the 2010 Winter Olympics and has successfully been used in hybrid structures such as in the Earth Sciences Building at the University of British Columbia. The recent CLT introduction in Canada indicates that ‘a market penetration rate of up to 15 per cent in 5 to 7 years is realistic’ .
In Europe, engineered timber has become a growing sector: a recent European industry report, summarized in an article in Holzkurier , describes the realities of the CLT trend by highlighting that the top 16 producers of CLT panel systems were operating at 120 per cent of capacity in 2009–10 and were projecting a 20 per cent growth in production in 2010–11. The article notes that total production volume of CLT panels reported for 2009 was 269,500 cubic meters. Projections for 2012 (including new producers and new plants in the Czech Republic, Italy and Austria) would exceed 520,000 cubic meters. While there is a CLT construction boom emerging in middle Europe, CLT is still not a fully accepted system in many of the Scandinavian countries, despite their abundance of forests. The research will need to explore the hindrances that are evident in the Nordic countries, where engineered timber still has a small share of the market.
Research has been conducted in the assumed barriers. Roos et al.  commented that ar